Dimension Hopping
by Sarge Ray
Summary: Sequel to "Interdimensional Relapse". Link must team up with an old friend to find a ruthless bounty hunter. But to do so, he must travel the dimensions and work with other friends. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

You all remember what happened in IDR (Interdimensional relapse), right? Everyone was sent home after the adventure and Link had to work extra hard to send another pair back. But that's not where the story is. Here it is.

Two years had passed in Hyrule since Link saw the last of Fox and the others. Sonic was true to his word and kept our Hylian's secret. Shadow was very relieved to hear that Zelda was okay and Concolor dead. Fox and Krystal got married (like we all know) and enjoyed their new life together. Then, everything changed when a friend brought Fox some good news and some bad news.

"Hey, Fox!" A rather cartoony voice called.

Fox got up off his chair from his laptop and asked, "Out of bolts again, Slippy? I'll be sure to order you some."

The cartoony voice belonged to our favorite mechanic frog, Slippy Toad.

"It's not that, Fox. Alright, I've got some good news and I got some bad news."

Fox had a bit of curiosity in his eyes and asked, "And that would be…?"

Slippy cleared his throat and began.

"The good news is…I just finished what you asked for."

Fox's eyes glimmered. He would finally be able to go to Hyrule again and see his friend. But he forgot something: The bad news.

"The bad news is…the criminal we shipped to Corneria is on the LOOSE!!!"

Fox got out of his chair and asked, "ALLOS?!" Slippy nodded in fright. Fox knew just what to do and raced to Slippy's room.

"You sure you're gonna try this, Fox?" Slippy asked as he began to strap something around Fox's waist.

"Positive, Slip. I'm going to need all the help I can get." He answered, knowing what he was doing.

Slippy finished strapping the belt around Fox and activated one switch, turning it on. The two were in front of a big, circular thing that looked like a large ring. On its sides appeared to be power generators and it was so tall that Fox could step through it like you would a door.

"Use this belt to come back home. Just make sure your friend is touching you when you do so he can come with you." Slippy explained, "Just press this large button and you'll be teleported right back here."

Fox nodded and said in a confident voice, "Don't worry, Slip. I'll remember."

Slippy went over to the computer and began typing so fast; you could almost dance to the beat. A minute later, the inner part of the ring began to glow bright green. Fox took a deep breath and stepped inside.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The enemy**

It was a stormy night in Hyrule and Link had just finished a (reluctant) swim with Ruto. He was on Epona and riding as the rain beat down on him.

"I hope I never do something like that again! I'm going to need a STRONG bath after this." He complained as though Epona was a talkative friend.

He then caught a flash out of the corner of his eye and originally thought it was lightning. Then he remembered that lightning wasn't bright red.

Link turned to see a large, flying object. He at first thought it was a dragon, but upon closer inspection, it was made of solid steel. It flew all the way over Hyrule Castle Town and landed in a secluded spot right near the castle. Link then changed course on his horse. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't friendly.

It took Link a few hours, but eventually, he found the iron 'bird'. It was on the ground with two figures moving toward it. However, one appeared to be struggling to get free. Link knew who the struggling person was when he heard someone scream his name. It was Zelda.

The minute Zelda screamed Link's name, the other person turned around. He was tall and bulky with armor plating on his torso. He had a head somewhat like a T-rex, but it was more triangular and complete with teeth. His feet were clad in boots made of the same material as his armor and his hands had three fingers. He had a belt complete with all kinds of instruments Link had never seen before and he also had a helmet with a visor of sorts. There was something on his back that had two kinds of pipes and this thing had a long, thick tail.

He then turned to Zelda and said, "I'll deal with you later, missy."

The creature's voice had a bit of a snarl in it and was as deep as a well. He put Zelda down and reached for something strapped to his belt. However, if he was trying to try a quick fight, he wasn't exactly going to get his wish.

Link drew his Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield and prepared for combat just when the creature pulled out a silver instrument and aimed it right at Link. The device emitted a blast of red energy with a high-pitched scream. Luckily, Link put up the shield and the bolt ricocheted off. Another series of blasts came at Link to no avail as this thing pulled the trigger to the device as fast as his forefinger would let him. The minute Link was in striking range, fire erupted from the back pipes of the device on his back and he flew off. Link looked wildly around for his opponent, for he feared he would take Zelda away and he did NOT want that to happen again. Before he had time to even consider what would happen, a huge explosion knocked him off balance. It didn't hit him, but the force of the explosion did send him several feet backward and he felt his sword fly out of his grip. The minute he regained his balance and ran after it, something wrapped around his arm and it brought him falling on his stomach. The thing that wrapped around his arm was a kind of grappling cable and the strange creature was flying around like a falcon with Link dragging along. The Hylian hero had to roll to his left and right to avoid rocks. Whoever this was had quite a bit of guts.

Link then saw a tree and rolled to the right. He had gone around it and brought the rope into a kind of bend. Result: The man halted and fell to the ground without his jetpack. The jetpack flew aimlessly around and eventually blew up because it crashed into a rock. The man/beast thing pulled out his blaster and tried to shoot Link, but Link was already in the air and the creature ended up with a huge leather boot right in his face. It knocked him backwards and knocked the gun out of his hand. Link then planted his boot into the thing's chest…to no avail. Its armor protected him from the full impact and he grabbed Link's boot and twisted it, causing him to spin like a corkscrew. The two scrambled to their feet, all the while Zelda cheering Link on.

The thing grabbed Link's shoulders, seeing as he was a good five inches taller than him, but Link ducked quickly and planted his fist into his unprotected stomach. The blow stunned him, but it didn't seriously injure this strange thing. The thing grabbed Link's head and brought his own helmeted cranium bashing into Link's forehead. Link fell to the ground and the thing almost stomped on him. Link quickly brought his foot up and it got the thing right in its unprotected chin. The thing was knocked backwards and Link got his sword just when the thing got up. However, he forgot one thing; the thing had a tail. Before he had even started his assault, there was a thing as thick as a basketball smashing into his midsection. Link got the wind knocked out of him and he didn't have enough time to catch the monster. The thing had just gotten back in its spaceship, but Zelda was nowhere in sight. She had snuck away while they were fighting and when she came to Link's aid, the spaceship had already taken off and disappeared in a flash of red light.

Link fluttered in and out of focus with a pair of big, blue eyes staring at him.

"…ink…ake up…Link."

Link finally came back to focus, clutching his head and before he knew it, someone was embracing him tightly.

"Link! THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE OKAY!" Zelda said in relief.

The unsuspecting hug had caught Link when he had the air knocked out of him and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

"It's…good to see you're alive too…Zelda." Link strained.

However, another flash of light caused him to suddenly get back on his feet and find his sword. But this wasn't red, it was blue.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Welcome aboard**

The blue light came from a portal right behind Link and it was so bright that Link momentarily shielded his eyes. When the light cleared, Link turned and saw a familiar figure with large, triangular ears and a tail. It opened a pair of green eyes and smiled.

"It's good to see you again."

Link's eyes widened and his mouth was gaping.

"Fox?" Link asked, amazed and almost too lost for words.

Fox nodded and said, "Yep."

Link ran over and couldn't help himself from tackling his friend. Zelda couldn't stop herself from laughing as they wrestled like brothers.

Fox chuckled as he said, "Good to see you too, Link."

Link got off Fox and let him get to his feet as well as let him catch his breath.

Link then asked, "Where are the others? Sonic? Mario? Mewtwo? Shadow?…"

Fox looked down and shook his head slightly.

"They didn't come with me. But I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again." He answered.

Link then told Fox of what happened before he arrived and a quizzical look crossed Fox's face. He scratched his chin as he tried to put everything Link told him together.

"A strange dinosaur man?" Fox asked.

Link nodded.

"Yeah, he was here just a few minutes ago, he chose to pick a fight with me and nearly kidnapped Zelda." Link repeated.

Fox narrowed his eyes and said, "Allos."

"Allos?" Link asked.

Fox nodded and he pulled out a personal photo of the wanted criminal. It looked exactly like the thing Link fought off. Link took the photo and stared at it in wonder. He looked up just when Fox began explaining.

"Allos is a dimensional bounty hunter from the same world as Concolor. And like that crazy cat, he's trying to revive Ganon and let him control your world. We caught him before when he came to my world. He sat in the jail cell for more than eighteen months, all the while muttering something about sages." Fox said, pounding one fist into another.

Link's face could have been carved from stone. He wasn't going to let some futuristic lizard harm the Sages if it was the last thing he did.

"Don't worry, Fox." He said in a determined tone, "I'll protect Saria, Darunia, and…"

Fox interrupted Link by holding his hand up to stop him.

"Not those sages. We confiscated everything from him and we know that he's after people called the 'Dimensional Sages.' From what we have, only one exists in Hyrule. These Dimensional Sages have a temple that has magic energy that will reveal itself when the time comes, so we have to find them before Allos can. However, I can't do this alone, so I want you to come with me."

Link was a bit shocked, but Zelda was probably even more. Just when one adventure with dimensions ended, here was another one walking right up to them. However, this one was going to take Link away from her for a while. Link looked at Zelda and saw that she looked on the verge of tears. Fox also caught a glimpse of the two and knew of their emotional attachment. But also knew that if they had to do something, then they had to do one thing before parting.

"Do what you must." Fox said.

Link looked at him as Fox made a motion with his head that said, "Go on. Do it." Link and Zelda embraced as though they would never see each other again.

"Be safe, Link…" Zelda quietly whispered.

"Don't worry, Zelda. I will." Link answered.

Fox then put a hand on Link's shoulder and said, "Come on. It's time to go now. Hold onto me."

As Link did so, Fox pressed a button on his belt and Zelda waved goodbye one last time before they both vanished in blue light.

In a flash of light, Fox reappeared in Great Fox with Link and the Hylian looked around. This was no place he had ever been and he just stood there for a while.

"Welcome aboard Great Fox, Link. Let me introduce you to my team."

Fox went through Great Fox and saw his shipmates.

"The frog over there is the guy who helped me get back here. His name's Slippy."

The frog excitedly ran over to Link and shook his hand.

"Pleased to meetcha, Link!" He said eagerly.

After Slippy released Link's hand, there was a blue bird of prey of sorts with red feathers around his eyes sitting in a chair.

"The bird over there is Falco…" Fox continued.

Falco turned in the chair and said, "Yo" as he raised a hand to wave.

Fox continued on. "Over there is my oldest member, Peppy Hare, and the metal guy is ROB."

Link looked to see a wizened, old rabbit and a robot with a kind of visor for eyes. Both turned in their seats upon hearing their names, and greeted him.

"So, you're that guy Fox was talking about?" Peppy asked.

"GREETINGS, NEW ALLY. I AM ROB NUS64, YOU MAY CALL ME ROB."

Link smiled and said, "Don't worry, Fox. You don't have to introduce me to Krystal."

Krystal stifled a laugh and said, "What a relief."

Fox turned to Slippy and asked, "When will your new invention be operational?"

"I'm currently working on the spaceship. The dimensional travel device used with it is still underway, though. It should only take anywhere between three days and a week." Slippy answered.

"I just hope Link will enjoy his stay with all of us." Fox said as he walked off.

Link had to spend a few days with the Star Fox team and help with a few things, most of which, were Slippy's tools. Slippy and Falco were watching some TV with Falco channel surfing. He then came across Spongebob Squarepants just when Patrick said, "It's a giraffe!!!" Slippy eagerly arrived, but Falco changed the channel to a police chase video.

"Can't we watch Spongebob?" Slippy complained as he looked at Falco.

"No." Falco answered, showing absolutely no care.

"Tartar sauce!" Slippy cursed.

Krystal overheard that and thought it very rude that Falco did that. She waltzed over to him and slugged his arm.

"OW! Man! You hit good for a girl!" Falco said, somewhat surprised, and massaged his arm.

While Falco massaged his arm, Krystal took the remote and gave it to Slippy.

"Thanks." Slippy said as he flipped to Spongebob.

Krystal winked and replied, "Don't mention it."

Link was passing by and noticed the absorbent, yellow, porous guy.

He scratched his head and asked himself, "Why does he look so familiar?"

After two or three days, Slippy had something invented. In fact, he felt so proud of what he did that he drug Link and Fox all the way to the hangar bay.

"Okay, Slippy, what is it that's so important?" Link asked, shrugging with one arm.

"THIS, Link, will be the key for your mission with Fox." Slippy answered, walking over to a huge mass of something with a blanket on it and gripping the cloth.

"Behold! The Arwing II!"

Slippy then pulled the sheet off a brand new spaceship with two seats in the cockpit rather than one. It was only slightly bigger than the real Arwing, but it looked big enough to hold both of them and a few supplies.

Link blinked a few times and asked, "What is it?"

"This arwing," Slippy explained, "Can carry two people at once. I'm preparing to make a few attachments so you can travel the dimensions."

Fox raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"That'll come in handy. And it still looks like it has aerodynamic capability." He said to his friend.

"Looks like it can fly, too." Link said, inspecting the ship.

Fox looked at Link and said, "It can."

Suddenly, Krystal's staff began to vibrate. The sudden movement caused her to jump slightly and she took it out and inspected it. It was glowing white and there was a light on the end.

"I confiscated this information. According to Allos," Fox recalled as he scratched his chin, "This happens when a temple reveals itself. Krystal, if I may kindly borrow this?"

Krystal nodded and handed it to him. Fox pointed the staff's light toward a white screen and it showed a map of sorts. It was a planet with oceans, mountains, and even its place in the universe. Right on an island of the planet, there was a shining white dot that blinked like a radar signal.

"This one is fairly close. It's on Sauria just a parsec away. Link and I will go to the planet immediately." Fox told them.

Link nodded and said, "Alright, let's go!"

Fox and Link raced to the flight deck and Link was the first in. He got in the seat on the front, but Fox spoke up.

"Only go in there if you want to drive."

Link was a bit embarrassed by this and went into the one behind it, because he had no intention of flying this thing the whole way. Fox hopped in and began fidgeting with the controls of the ship before he seized the controls.

"I'll give you a call when the device is ready." Slippy quickly informed, holding a wrench.

"Understood." Fox replied.

A door opened up in Great Fox's hangar bay and the Arwing II flew through the gap. As everyone watched, the Arwing II disappeared into space and the beginning of Operation: Dimension Hopping.

Back on Great Fox, Slippy already missed them and was sniffling a bit to suppress the tears.

"Puh-leeze, Slip! They've only been gone for five minutes!" Falco commented.

Peppy put his knuckle to his forehead and said, "Well, team, all we can do now is wait. What about you, Krystal?"

There was no response.

"Krystal?" Peppy asked again.

When the old rabbit turned around, Krystal was nowhere to be seen…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Tooth and nail**

The Arwing II landed in a clearing on the planet and Fox sighed. Cool, jungle air filled his lungs and some of it remained as he exhaled it.

"Ah, it's good to be back!" He said as he got out of the ship.

Link had a bit of trouble and fell out when he stepped on the wing. Fox laughed at the odd situation and helped Link back to his feet.

"So, this is where you found that redeye?" Link asked, taking in the landscape.

Fox nodded and said, "You know it."

Fox looked around and saw a jungle. This was the quickest route up the mountain, seeing as he knew this planet upside-down.

He then said, "Showtime. C'mon, Link."

"I'm right behind you." Link said as they jogged off into the rainforest.

When the Arwing II landed and Fox and Link went into the jungle, a small hatch opened up underneath it. Krystal had snuck away from Great Fox and stowed away. She wanted to go with Fox and see Sauria again, but she knew Fox wouldn't allow it, so she stowed away. She too looked around and enjoyed the views.

"Wow. Feels like only yesterday when Fox rescued me." Krystal thought to herself.

She remembered the day when Fox rescued her from the clutches of General Scales and Andross. She remembered how Fox saved her life from a five-story drop. She remembered when she joined Star Fox and became the first-ever female on the team. Then, she straightened her mind.

"But I've got more important things to do now." She reminded herself.

With that, she tailed off after Fox and Link. However, in the jungle there were a few surprises, but none of them were good ones though.

A few minutes in the jungle and Fox and Link still had a ways to go. Link was looking around, but Fox spoke up.

"Careful, Link. We've discovered a new kind of dinosaur on here."

Link turned his head and asked, "Really?"

Fox nodded and continued. He remembered, seeing as it was part of his mission when he got sucked into Link's world.

"It's a kind that's longer than a redeye, but not as heavy. We call it the Dreadfin tribe." Fox explained.

Link shuddered at the thought of something bigger than a redeye. The redeye he encountered back at Hyrule was tall enough to look in his treehouse and longer than a Dodongo, but when he tried to imagine something bigger, it sent a chill down his spine. And when he tried imagining what a Dreadfin looked like, it only increased the chill.

"I'm glad we won't run into that in a dark alley." He thought to himself.

Then, one of Link's feet fell deeper than the other and looked down to see a large depression the size of a kid's wading pool.

"Hey, Fox! What's with this pool?" He called.

In an instant, Fox was with him. He then noticed that the "pool" had split into three smaller pools further down it.

"This is no pool. It's a footprint." Fox said in amazement.

Link's heartbeat began to increase. For a minute, he wondered if it was one of the dinosaurs Fox told him about.

"Dreadfin?"

Fox looked up and answered, in almost a whisper, "No. It's something bigger…"

"Bigger? What could be bigger?" Link asked.

Krystal was hopelessly lost. She had tried to track Fox and Link, but had no luck so far. She was tuckered out and needed to rest, so she found a rock near a tree and sat down on it. Just then, the "Rock" slowly, but surely, moved. Krystal leapt off it in surprise and looked at what it really was. It was a dinosaur, bigger than a redeye and had long, crocodilian jaws. It had long spines coming from its back, but they were covered with skin, creating a kind of fin. Then, she realized that THIS was a member of the Dreadfin tribe. She screamed at the top of her lungs just when the thing let out a roar. The scream grabbed the attention of two other people, miles away.

"What was that?" Link asked, very worried that someone was with them.

Fox heard it alright, but he heard it a second time. THAT was when he realized who it was.

"Oh no. KRYSTAL!" Fox said, now absolutely terrified.

Without further hesitation, he hurried toward the noise as fast as possible and Link could only try to keep up with his friend.

Krystal took off at top speed through the trees. The Dreadfin was close behind, snapping its jaws in an attempt to devour her and it was gaining on her, its breath trickling down her neck. She found a cave and sprinted into it, but then she realized that it wasn't small enough to stop it. Despite it, she sprinted inside and went as far as she could with the Dreadfin worming its way through the rock formations. Unfortunately, it was a dead end and she wasn't ANYWHERE near far enough from the monster. The minute the Dreadfin was two feet away from her, it stopped and moved backward several feet. It screamed as something began to drag it out of the cave by the tail and Krystal simply watched in wonder and fear. The Dreadfin was now back at the entrance of the cave and it seemed to hover in midair. There was a big CRUNCH and the Dreadfin let out one last scream before its movement slowed and then stopped. As she watched, the dead Dreadfin seemed to disappear over the cave and blood slowly trickled from its back. Krystal was at first reluctant to leave, but then there was something going on. Something was moving between her legs and she looked down to see a huge snake that bore resemblance to an anaconda.

"Aah!" She yelped as she scrambled out.

At first, she thought that the thing that killed the Dreadfin had passed. But then, a drop of blood that could fill a dinner plate splashed onto the ground and Krystal turned to see the thing that killed the Dreadfin.

Krystal looked up and saw a redeye, but it was more than four times the size of your average one. It towered over even the Dreadfin at a colossal fifty feet tall with the dead Dreadfin in its jaws. The minute its eyes saw Krystal, its nostrils flared and then gave chase because it now saw Krystal as FOOD. As Krystal ran, she heard the sound of breaking bones and guessed that the giant redeye was biting the Dreadfin in two. She then heard a thud and there was a Dreadfin head in her way. As she ran, another giant redeye appeared, exactly the same size and the two started snapping at each other, giving her a chance to get a good distance away. However, when they saw that their lunch was getting away, they sprinted after her again. The giant redeye were snapping at her and she screamed as she ran, trying to avoid teeth and feet at the same time. Just when things were bad enough, ANOTHER giant redeye appeared and almost devoured her. She quickly ran right between its legs, missing its jaws by inches, and causing the titan to fall to the ground right in front of its brethren. All three of them fell to the ground, but they quickly regained their balance and pursued the blue morsel. The chase scene then found itself in a clearing and Krystal had no other places to hide. The redeye almost began squabbling over food when something fell from out of nowhere and attacked.

The thing was huge and humanoid, but it had dinosaur features. It had two hooks for a left hand and a head like a t-rex. Its helmet had long horns and it had huge, three-toed feet. It even had a tail and was clad in leather armor that went past his knees. A bewildered second later, Krystal realized THIS was General Scales, but SUPERSIZED. He was tall enough to look the redeye right in the eye. As he landed, he brought his hooks down on the largest one and left two huge scars on its cranium. The redeye shook its head in agony and roared aggressively. Scales returned it with his own roar as the other redeye made a kind of triangle around him.

At that time, Fox and Link found Krystal and saw the fight was about to begin. Fox had told Link of his story and Link was confused in a frightened sort of way.

"Fox, I thought you said Scales was nine feet tall." Link said, bewildered.

Fox turned and said, "I did, but he sure did sprout!"

The three redeye growled warnings at Scales, wanting him to get out of their way to a few tasty morsels. But when Scales showed he wasn't going to back down, the three large dinosaurs sprinted at him and attacked.

The first redeye, Scales dispatched of easily. He spun away from the snapping jaws and bashed his fist into its face. Link and the others had to move because he knocked out teeth that nearly impaled them. Another redeye came up to meet Scales and sank its teeth into his arm. Scales nearly attacked, but another one caught his other arm with its jaws. Another one nearly got Scales, but the large Sharpclaw performed a kind of 'slugger kick' and repelled it. Scales then got the others off by smashing them into each other. The one that got kicked came at Scales again, but Scales brought it into a headlock and wrestled it to the ground. When it was down, Scales scrambled over to a large rock, heaved it over his head and brought it smashing down on the redeye's head. A sickening "CRACK" told the watching trio that the redeye's skull was crushed. The Redeye's body twitched until it went limp, its scalp lined with red cracks. There were still two more and Scales had a while to go.

The second one rushed over and bashed Scales with its large head. Scales was knocked back a step or two, but not off his feet. The second one came to grab Scales in its teeth, but Scales caught it by the jaw, pried it open, and stuck his two claws down its throat. The redeye created all kinds of gagging noises and Scales pulled out his claws. RIIIIP!!! The redeye collapsed with a pair of large gashes in its neck. There was one redeye left, but from the way Scales fought off his friends, it stood little chance. However, you know Redeyes. They never turn down a fight. That's exactly what this one did.

He charged, mouth open, in an attempt to decapitate Scales, but the Sharpclaw leader was too smart and put his hooks in the right position. His other hand, pulled the jaw open and he performed something like a lion tamer. He stuck his head into the redeye's mouth. Just then, the redeye's jaws slammed shut, but Scales barely got out of the redeye's mouth just in time. He was holding something in his mouth and he released it when he pulled his head out. It was a big, pink, worm-thing and it landed with a "ker-splat" near Fox and the others.

"Yuck! What'd that redeye have for lunch?" Link asked.

"Link, that's not his lunch." Fox corrected.

Link turned to Fox, a confused look on his face. This thing sure did look like a piece of meat, so what else could it be?

"Swing that by me again." Link demanded.

"That's not the redeye's lunch. That's his tongue." Fox said in disgust.

Link nearly threw up when Fox finished his sentence while Krystal looked away in disgust and almost threw up. Link actually threw up when he looked at the redeye open its mouth, revealing a huge bloody stump where its tongue used to be.

The two dinosaurs rolled around on the ground like pro wrestlers, but Scales came out on top. He had the redeye pinned and his claws had its nose while his real hand had its jaw. The redeye let out a moan in defeat as Scales pried open the redeye's jaws until they couldn't open any further. There was a sickening CRUNCH and the redeye's jaw was ripped open. The redeye screamed as much as its vocal chords would allow it as Scales grabbed it by the back of its head and sharply pulled it toward him. That movement broke the spine and the redeye slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Fox was amazed, Scales just killed THREE redeye and barely put up a sweat. Fox then chose to speak.

"Uhh, thanks for saving us, Scales." Fox said, a tone of unease apparent in his voice.

Scales stood up from the dead dinosaurs and turned to glare at Fox with his large, red eyes. It was then that Fox knew that he shouldn't have said anything.

"Who said I was saving you?" The large pirate asked. He then towered over them and said, "If anyone's going to kill you, it's going to be ME!"

Scales drew a large dagger as long as a dump truck and slowly thundered toward them. He was going to kill them, but that wasn't on one person's watch. Link snuck something out of his sack and just when Scales was a few meters away from them, he stopped with a look of surprise on his face. Fox turned to see Link with a stone mask on his face and was tall enough to look Scales in the eye.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." He said in a deep, thundering voice.

Link then drew his sword, which was as long as a school bus, and Scales let out a roar as a new fight began.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The adventure begins**

A combination of anger and the thirst to prove himself drove Scales on. Link on the other hand, was driven by the need to save his friends. Scales had a clear weight advantage, so Link had to play it cool, very cool.

Scales charged, dagger raised above his head and let out a deafening roar. Link let out a war cry and raised his own sword. Scales swung his dagger in an attempt to drive it through Link's abdomen, but Link raised his shield and the knife bounced off. However, that wasn't the only weapon Scales had. He took his two claws and raked Link's side with it. Blood droplets the size of baseballs fell to the ground and you could hear Link's grunt in pain even on Ice mountain. Link swung his sword and Scales ducked, but something landed on the ground. When Scales looked down, he noticed that the thing was actually one of his helmet's horns. Link severed it when he swung. Link swung his sword again, but the only thing he met was Scales' knife. Suddenly, without warning, Scales took his teeth and clamped down on Link's shoulder. Link screamed in pain as the fifty knifelike teeth sunk deep into his flesh. Link took his shield arm and brought it smashing across Scales' face. WHAM! The solid steel shield increased the damage and almost cleaved Scales' jaw in two as well as knock a few teeth out. The Sharpclaw leader spat these onto the ground and hadn't even recovered when Link kicked him in the chin.

"You're going to wish you were dead, boy." Scales snarled as he saw Link get back a few feet.

"Sorry, I'm afraid it's going to be the other way around." Link said as he positioned his sword in front of him.

Link took a swing at Scales, but the dinosaur jumped away from the blade and kicked Link in the back. The hero of time staggered, but he never fell, not even when Scales seized him by the collar and heaved him away. Fox and Krystal had to scatter to avoid having Link's leather boot stomp them. Scales got his dagger out and almost stabbed Link in the back, but by the time he was ten feet away, Link whirled around and planted his sword right in Scales' midsection. Scales was still alive, but Link yanked the sword upward and brought it up so high in Scales' body that it stopped at the ribcage. Scales was defeated for the first time ever.

Link pulled his sword out, but Scales wasn't bleeding. Instead, a kind of black mist came out of his wounds and he eventually evaporated in the stuff, all the while roaring in agony. When the large Sharpclaw disappeared, Fox got what was going on.

"This isn't Scales. It's a copy to stop us from getting the sage." Fox thought to himself.

Suddenly, Krystal spoke. "I see…"

Fox chuckled. He had forgotten that Krystal was a telepath. Link wiped sweat off his forehead and two huge drops fell onto Fox and Krystal like C-bombs. Link then took the mask off his face and shrunk down to his normal size only to see Fox and Krystal, who looked like they just fell into a lake.

"Hey, Link, watch where you drop your sweat, will ya?" Fox asked, somewhat agitated.

Link scratched his head and chuckled nervously. He would have come up with something nice to say, but Krystal got him before he could think of anything.

"Thank you, Link! You saved our lives!" Krystal said cheerfully.

Suddenly, without warning, she actually kissed Link on the cheek. Link blushed until he was as red as a tomato.

"C'mon, Link. Don't tell me you've never been kissed before." Krystal said, almost laughing.

Link scratched his head and said, "Well, I HAVE been kissed before…Just not by a fox."

Krystal stifled a laugh at this comment. Fox on the other hand, looked somewhat annoyed.

"Krystal, we're married, remember?" Fox asked, in a reminding fashion.

Fox then forgot about love and came back to reality. That AND he wanted to get away from all these dead dinosaurs before scavengers came around.

"C'mon. We've got to find that sage." Fox said as he beckoned for Link.

"How are we going to find…" Link began, but this happened.

The ground began to shake and a large mountain appeared from the depths of the earth. On the side of it was a pure white temple similar to Krazoa Palace.

"Well, I guess that'll work." Fox said, wide-eyed.

Fox and Link looked at each other and they were about to race off. However, just before they left, Fox paused for a minute and turned to Krystal.

"Krystal, return to the ship. We wouldn't want to run into more Redeye, would we?" He suggested.

Krystal nodded reluctantly and stayed put as Fox and Link ran off.

It took two or three hours, but they eventually reached the shrine and flung its large doors open. The inside of the shrine was a big white room with pillars the color of alabaster and floor paneling pretty much the same substance. Upon further inspection, they found that it wasn't alabaster, but pure white ice.

"So this is where we find the sage. They need new wallpaper." Fox thought out loud.

He looked around and saw pretty much nothing until his eyes spotted something. Right in the middle of the room was a small slot for something to fit into, the other was another opening, but it was longer and a little more narrow. Right in front of these symbols were three golden triangles.

"Hey, I know this symbol!" Link exclaimed, pointing down at it.

Fox turned on this discovery as Link stepped into the center of the triangles and took out an ocarina. He played a tune and the empty triangle turned electric blue. Fox stood, mouth agape at what happened.

"That, my friend, was Zelda's lullaby; the royal family's song." Link said, to make sure Fox didn't forget.

Fox stopped staring and began to examine the two slots. He then looked at his staff's end that looked kind of like a spear point.

"Wait a minute…" Fox then pointed the bottom point of his staff downward and put it down the hole.

Link looked around, wondering why nothing was working. Then, he saw another slot right next to Fox's and looked at his gilded sword. He slowly went up to it and with one hand, put the sword perfectly into the slot.

A whirlwind of blue light began to pull them upwards and it was beginning to make Link feel sick to his stomach. Just when Fox thought he was going to throw up, it stopped. They were in a large black chamber with different colored things that looked like the Milky Way. The "Milky Ways" were white, yellow, blue, red, silver, purple, green, bronze, gold, and a purplish-black. After good inspection, Fox finally broke the silence.

"My best guess is that THIS is where we the sages come in. But who's this sage?" Fox said, looking around a place that he was sure was the middle of nowhere.

Just then, the white circle began to glow its respective color and a figure came up from it. Fox gasped at the sight as a pair of familiar green eyes looked at him.

"Krystal? YOU'RE the sage we were looking for?" Fox asked in surprise.

Krystal smiled and answered, "I am indeed. I am Krystal, Sage of Ice."

Link then noticed that Krystal wasn't wearing her usual blue, skintight clothing. Instead, she was wearing a flowing white dress that sparkled like diamonds.

"I know my destiny and I'm willing to help you defeat Allos and prevent him from releasing Ganon. I will not be in your world, Fox. But when it's over, we will meet again. To aid you, I have a gift for you."

Krystal then raised her arms and a white light merged with Fox. The orb in Fox's staff turned white and magic flowed through it.

"This spell will allow you to control permafrost below the earth. Use it well."

Fox nodded and said, "Don't worry, Krystal. I will."

"Hey! What about me?" Link asked.

Krystal raised her hands to stop Link. She knew that if Link got a little too jealous, things would get ugly.

"Don't worry. Other sages have magic for you, too. Just be patient." She assured.

A blinding white light and Krystal said one last sentence. "Fox, I'll have some news for you when you return."

Fox and Link reappeared outside the Arwing II when a device on Fox's arm began to beep. Fox pressed a button and Slippy's head appeared in a hologram.

"Fox! Link! I've finished with the preparations. You better come see it!" Slippy informed.

Both nodded and said, "We're on our way!"

However, something moved and Fox whirled around to see that Allos' ship was beginning to take off. Fox took out a small hand rifle thing and fired at the ship. It didn't release a bullet or a blast, but it released a small disc. The minute the disc hit, it began to beep wildly.

Link then turned to Fox and asked, "What was that?"

Fox simply answered, "A tracking device. If he's going somewhere, we'll find him."

Link smiled and said, "Clever."

After that, They hopped inside the Arwing II and flew off to Great Fox. When they got there, Falco actually looked worried.

"Hey, guys, where'd Krystal go?" He asked.

Link looked the bird in the eye and answered, "She's one of the sages Allos is after. We'll see her again when Allos is vanquished."

Falco looked to the floor and said, in a gloomy tone, "Let her do what she has to, Fox. We'll all miss her…Now, Go find Slip, will ya'?"

Falco seemed to finish his speech with the spunk Fox always loved, causing the Star Fox leader to crack a smile. Fox realized that he had forgotten about the mission and ran off with Link close behind.

Slippy was in front of a large, glass window showing a kind of ring with metal plating through the center. When Fox and Link entered, Slippy turned and gestured to the window.

"There she is, Fox. I call it the dimension ring. It attaches to the Arwing II and sends you rocketing through space so fast, you'll warp dimensions!" Slippy explained.

Fox was ecstatic and raced off for the hangar bay. He almost knocked over Peppy and almost smashed ROB into scrap metal.

"Alright!" He said, unable to control himself.

"Hey! Wait up, Fox!" Link shouted as he raced to catch up.

Fox flipped into the drivers' seat of the Arwing II and Link got in too, though more cautiously. They were about to blast off when they received a message from Peppy.

"I'm tracking Allos on radar. I'll send you the coordinates before you warp." The old rabbit informed.

Fox pressed a button and said, "Understood, Peppy."

The ship attached to the metal plating in the center like a Lego block and the thrusters roared to life.

"Ready?" Fox asked.

Link gave the thumbs' up and said, "For Hyrule."

The dimension ring began to glow bright blue and the pair were sent off to dimensions unknown. This was it: the second dimensional mission for Hyrule.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Dogfight (Or should I say fox-fight?)**

Link had never been in anything so fast in his life, not even Sonic the hedgehog was this fast. The dimension ring was probably pulling them at the speed of light and Sonic didn't even come close. He couldn't understand why Fox wasn't throwing up or even looking queasy. It took a long time, but they eventually stopped.

They saw a planet, but it was far away and they were in an asteroid field. It was apparent that Fox didn't want this, because he brought his fist bashing onto the controls.

"Darn! We stopped too soon! You'll have to wait a little longer, Link." Fox cursed.

Link shook his head and said, "I don't think I can handle flying like this."

"Don't worry. What could go wrong?" Fox asked.

Link suddenly saw something ahead of them. It looked like a kind of metallic, mechanical dragon. Massive thrusters boosted the iron colossus through the asteroid belt and its iron wings helped it steer away from any incoming debris.

"Hey, isn't that Allos' ship?" Link asked.

"Oh no…Not the Drache IV!" Fox said as his eyes widened.

Allos was also on his way to this planet and then noticed a strange signal coming from behind him. He checked his radar and saw that a ship that looked like the Arwing that took him to a galactic prison several years ago was following him.

"BLAST! That flea-bitten fox must've tagged me!" He cursed, "Guess I'll have to play rough."

An evil smile spread across his reptilian face and he pressed a red button in front of him. A small hatch opened in the rear of his ship and a spherical item the size of a basketball fell through space.

Fox then noticed something coming for the Arwing II and he instantly knew the signal from within it.

"Oh no! Spreaders! Hold on, Link." Fox warned.

Link was confused and asked, "Why?"

Fox swerved slightly to avoid the bomb hitting him. However, this was an asteroid field and the bomb hit a nearby chunk of debris. The bomb exploded, but not before sending off a whole spray of bombs that exploded in a blast of superheated gas, creating a giant fireworks show. Fox had to fly at top speed in order to avoid all of them, but Allos was releasing bomb after bomb. It was like the Fourth of July came early and used nuclear warheads rather than firecrackers and the explosions seemed to be getting closer.

Back on his ship, Allos was VERY ticked off at this ship. He gritted his sharp teeth in rage and the yoke he was holding was beginning to creak from his grip.

"These guys can't seem to take a hint! They're not going to like me when I'm angry." Allos growled.

He then brought the yoke of his ship sharply upward and he performed a somersault. Fox and Link were caught completely by surprise and had a hot-tempered dinosaur after them. There was a button on his yoke and his thumb was right over it. He pressed the button and a cylindrical thing came out of where the dragon's mouth should have been that looked something like a Gatling gun. Slowly, it began to rotate, spinning faster and faster with every rotation.

"Uh-oh. Prepare for evasive action!" Fox commanded, rapidly pressing buttons on his dashboard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Link asked.

The barrels on Allos' cannon began to rotate faster as Fox pressed his buttons. The Cornerian then answered without even looking at Link.

"Nothing. Just hold on."

As the Gatling gun rotated, blue blasts of energy began to fire out like a machine gun. Fox quickly swerved the right and Link's head banged up against hard glass. Just when Link was adjusting to it, Fox swerved to the left, causing Link's head to go the other way. CLANG!

"That's it, Fox…" Link said through gritted teeth.

Fox didn't have time to look back and asked, "What?" as he dodged another array of blasts.

"As of today," Link still growled, "I hate flying."

As Fox flew right, left, up, and down, Link began to notice that he wasn't trying to get behind the enemy behind them. Instead, Fox just kept on going and going without even looking behind him.

"Fox, isn't there anything we can do to kill this guy?" Link asked, holding on very tight.

"Link, this was made for Dimensional travel. Slippy must have forgotten to put in weapons." Fox said, jerking the yoke of his ship like a joystick on an arcade game.

Allos continued to shoot and Fox continued to fly like crazy. Every shot nearly hit the Arwing II and hit many asteroids, causing them to explode like small bombs. Then, it happened. A blast actually caught them on the wing. Link jerked forward, hitting his head on the back of Fox's pilot seat.

"Ow!" Link said, suddenly.

"Link, we're hit. He seems to have hit the main power generator. If this ship does survive this, we may only have enough power to make two trips." Fox said, checking the damage by computer.

Back in his ship, Allos smiled as he hit the wing with a laser bolt and said, "Now to finish them."

A slot opened in his ship's wing and he launched two missiles after them. Fox swerved out of the way, but the missile swerved to match him like he was tugging it by an invisible chord.

"HEAT SEAKERS!" Fox exclaimed.

Link was confused and asked, "WHAT?"

Fox then began to talk in a very worried tone. Link didn't know what a heat seeker was, but it couldn't have been anything good.

"A heat seeker is designed to explode on contact with heat. Last I checked, all warm-blooded creatures: You and me, give off heat. These missiles are going to follow us until we explode into oblivion."

Link then gulped at the thought of a bomb going off when it caught them. Fox had to pull every move he knew to avoid the missiles catching him. If they were to hit now, the Arwing II would lose both of its wings and their mission would end here. Fox then got an idea.

"Grab a barf bag, Link." Fox warned.

Before Link even had time to ask what Fox was talking about, the leader of Star Fox turned his controls and the Arwing II went into a barrel roll, causing Link to almost land headfirst on the ceiling. The missiles followed the wings until they finally went BOOM!

A wicked grin spread across Allos' T-rex-like face. He was very sure that they had been blown into millions of pieces that would decorate space forever.

"That'll teach them to mess with Allos." He said, confidently.

With that, his spaceship took off toward the nearby planet. Little did he know that Fox and Link weren't dead. The barrel roll caused the missiles to collide with each other and that Fox had secretly made a momentary stealth suit so they could avoid detection.

They had to be quiet in case Allos found a way to hack into communications and they did so, to Link's dismay. After five minutes, Fox finally spoke up.

"Okay, I think the coast's clear." He said as he pulled out of the stealth suit and went to the planet, which was now in range.

Link looked at Fox and said, "Don't EVER do that again!"

Fox shrugged and said, "Okay, I'll try."

"NO, promise me you WON'T DO IT!"

"What if it's an emergency?"

The two then bickered all the way to the next planet.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Thunder and Lightning**

After that incident in the asteroid belt, Fox and Link found their way onto the planet. The minute it touched ground, Link leapt out and landed on the ground.

"LAND! SWEET LAND!" He said with joy.

The minute he said that, Fox blinked a few times. Not even Slippy did this and he wasn't too fond of flying.

"Sheesh. What's his problem?" He asked himself.

Fox simply got out of his ship like it was a simple drive in a car. He inspected the damage to the wing and got a good look at the damage. The upper part of the wing was fried and it was losing power and fast. There probably wasn't enough power to get them through or to get both of them home.

Suddenly, Fox's staff turned bright yellow and revealed the location of the next shrine. The two got a good look at the map and Fox realized what was next.

"Looks like we're going to find the Thunder Shrine." Link thought out loud.

Fox smiled and said, "I'm sure this will be shocking."

(Rim shot)

Link had that look on his face that said, "Ha ha, very funny." He then said, "Bad joke, Fox."

Fox recollected himself and the two set off on their journey.

This place was a strange one indeed. There were creatures of every shape and color that chattered and chirped. There was a strange thing that looked like an eagle perched in a tree, but it had long, flowing feathers on its head and there was a huge, round creature that was fast asleep.

"Fox, what are these things?" Link asked.

Fox thought for a second and then shrugged. He had never seen anything like these before and some looked exotic.

"Your guess is about as good as mine." He answered.

Just then, a familiar voice spoke in both of their minds. It was deep as a well, but sounded very wise, too.

"I see you made it to our world." It said.

Fox whirled around and saw no one just when Link did the same.

"What was that?" Link asked.

Fox inspected the area, but still saw a whole lot of nothing.

"Let's go. That's nothing."

Just when they turned back, there was a great, catlike thing in front of them.

"I'm nothing, am I?" The voice asked again.

Fox smacked himself in the forehead and said, "Oh. Hey, Mewtwo."

Mewtwo smiled, still keeping that piercing glare in his eye and said, "I'm glad you two haven't forgotten me."

Fox and Link nervously chuckled and said, "Uhh, yeah…heheh…"

Mewtwo's telepathy then activated again. If you were seeing it, you would probably see the slightest case of amusement on it.

"Tell me. How's Shadow? Has he learned anything from what I've taught him?" He asked.

Link rubbed the back of his head and said, "Actually, we haven't met him yet."

Mewtwo's eyelids dropped slightly and he thought, "Oh."

Just then, there was rustling in the grass and a familiar, yellow face peeked out of the grass. Link looked at it just before it burst out, happier than a robin.

"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!!" It shouted.

Something like a yellow pinball collided with Link's midsection. The collision bowled Link right off his feet and he strained to speak.

"Hello…Pikachu. It's good…to see you…too."

Link slowly got up, Pikachu still on his tunic. Mewtwo was confused.

"Wait. How come this one speaks human?" The psychic Poke'mon asked.

Fox snapped his fingers and said, "Of course! We gave him that translator and he can still understand us and vice versa."

Link struggled and finally got the electric rodent off him. Pikachu still had a lot of energy to burn and Link knew just what to say.

"Uhh, sorry, Pikachu. We can't exactly play now. We're on a mission."

Pikachu was overjoyed and said, "Ooh! Ooh! Can I join in?"

Fox frowned and said, "Sorry, no."

Pikachu's long ears drooped and his face fell.

Fox took something out of his pocket and added, "But if we need your help, we'll use this to call you."

He tossed it and the little Poke'mon caught it by jumping.

"Mewtwo, you're comin' with us." Link said.

Mewtwo grinned and said, "I might be able to help you on your little quest. I know this world well."

With that, they took off toward the Thunder Shrine.

The shrine was located in a place called Viridian City toward a large cave. Turned out the inner part of the cave WAS the Thunder temple. It was a large room full of glass tubes, each one having electricity flow through it. Unlike the Ice Shrine, this place had many doors and no staff or sword sign in the floor. Something then came to Fox's mind.

"Oh no! I forgot to give power to Arwing II!"

For a minute, Link was thankful. But then he realized that no power meant that Allos would escape and Ganon would be unleashed.

"I know! I'll call Pikachu. He can give our ship a good jolt." Fox said, quickly remembering.

Fox then took a similar communicator to Pikachu's and pressed a button. If the device still existed, the electric rodent would hear them clear as a bell.

Back at the Arwing II, Pikachu was waiting patiently for Fox and Link to give a decent message. Just then, he saw two dinosaur-like creatures that looked like raptors. His eyes widened as one of them spoke in a scratchy, low voice.

"That's their spaceship, alright." One said as he inspected the ship.

Pikachu hurried behind a tree out of the monsters' sight. Judging from the fact that they were searching for them, he guessed they weren't friendly. Luckily for him, they sounded somewhat dull-witted.

"Whew! I don't want those guys to catch me…"

He spoke too soon, because his communicator activated. At first, it was a loud static noise, but then someone spoke as if an invisible person was talking.

"Pikachu…Pikachu…Do you read me? I need you to give our ship some juice." Fox's voice asked through the communicator.

Pikachu leapt into the air as one raptor looked up and said, "What was that?"

Pikachu then fumbled with the communicator for a while and sat on it. It only muffled the noise, but it was enough to stop the now-suspicious raptors.

One simply said, "Get back to work. That's nothin'."

Back at the Thunder Shrine, Fox was a little worried. He hoped that the signal got through and that Pikachu was okay. The three of them had checked every door. Some were rigged with traps, some were dead ends, there was even one with a monster inside.

"This place could take weeks to find what we're looking for!" Link shouted into the nothingness.

Mewtwo simply levitated him and said in a stern tone, "If you complain again, I'll rocket you to Cerulean City and back here again. There's more to this place that meets the eye."

Link nodded and Mewtwo lowered him gently to the ground. Mewtwo then seemed to be looking at the floor a few yards away from them. Mewtwo saw Link give him a clueless look and he beckoned to the floor.

Link looked at it too and asked, "That's nothing, Mewtwo. Just a dusty floor."

Mewtwo simply floated over to it and brought his tail across it, revealing a secret door. The "door" was more of a trapdoor and had a kind of lightning bolt across it.

Mewtwo cocked an eyebrow and asked, "You were saying?"

"Alright. I'll just give Pikachu another call and we'll see if he got my message…" Fox said as he activated his communicator.  
Fox decided to try again and whipped out his communicator. This time, he hoped Pikachu would listen for once.

Miles away, Pikachu had raced over to the Arwing II's underside and found the power source without drawing attention from the raptors. His cheeks began to spark and he had it up to full power in no time.

"Whew! That last time was close." Pikachu thought to himself.

However, the communicator then activated and Fox's voice came out through it. This time, there was no place to hide.

"Pikachu…Pikachu…Did you hear me last time?" It said.

Pikachu quickly whipped it out and said, in a very fast voice, "Uh, sorry, Fox. I'd love to chat but there are a few technical errors in your ship I'm working on. So haveaniceday, bye."

Pikachu quickly deactivated it after saying "bye". Unfortunately, the raptors heard it loud and clear. They looked under the ship and took notice of him with the communicator.

"Uh oh…" Pikachu said quietly.

"HEY! You!" One raptor said, pointing its clawed finger at the electric mouse.

Pikachu quickly did the repairs on the Arwing II just when the raptor's three-fingered hands wrapped themselves around his middle.

"Ah, stupid little rodent." He said as he lifted Pikachu into the air.

Pikachu's legs dangled in the air as he struggled to get free. Then, he got an evil twinkle in his eye and he opened his mouth. Without warning, he sunk his teeth into the raptor's finger.

"YEEEOWCH!!!" He shouted as he dropped him.

Pikachu hit the floor and used Iron Tail on the other one's leg, tripping it. Then, his cheeks sparked and he aimed the electricity at the dinosaurs. They screamed as electricity surged through their bodies, and when Pikachu was through with them, smoke billowed from their bodies.

Pikachu smiled in triumph and then said, "What would this world do without ya', Pikachu?"

He puffed out his chest and held his head high, ready to waltz off and find his two buddies he met in Hyrule. He was about halfway there when he felt energy pulsating and turned to see yellow light coming right at him.

Fox, Link, and Mewtwo went through the trapdoor to find themselves in a large room. Link knew the three triangles and knew what to do. He played Zelda's lullaby and the triangles glowed bright yellow instead of blue. Fox took his staff and planted it in the slot. At the same time, Link planted his sword in the other. After that, they were teleported to the same realm where Krystal was, but the yellow circle glowed this time. Link's eyes widened as a familiar, red-cheeked mouse appeared.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Link said, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"No joke. By the way, good job, guys." Pikachu said in an almost wise tone. "I've learned my destiny as the Thunder Sage. I knew I could count on you to save your world. So I've got something for you, Link."

"FINALLY!" Link said eagerly.

Pikachu then raised his little hands into the air and yellow light touched Link.

"This spell will allow you to shoot lightning from your sword. Now you can power your ship without my help."

Link pointed his sword forward and a long blast of electricity shot from the tip.

Link smiled and said, "That's a pretty nifty trick."

Pikachu blushed and said, "Well, I've done all I can do. See ya 'round!"

They then vanished in white light. Pikachu's last sentence was "By the way, if you run into Kirby, tell him we should get together sometime."

Back at the Arwing II, Mewtwo was waiting for them with his arms crossed.

"I take it you've found the sage?" He asked.

Fox nodded and then an idea popped into his head. "Hey, Mewtwo, wanna come with us?"

Mewtwo shook his head and said, "No. My place is here. But you can visit me and Pikachu if you get the chance."

Fox nodded and commented, "I understand."

Fox and Link then got into their ship and had liftoff.

"Oh no…Not THIS again!" Link said before they attached to the Dimension ring and zoomed off.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: The speed of sound**

The Arwing II zoomed just near a planet similar to Earth and detached from the Dimension Ring to zoom into its atmosphere.

"Our next destination is here, Link." Fox informed as he pressed a few buttons.

There was a big growling noise and Fox's eyes widened. He looked around wildly as if some wild animal was loose in the spaceship.

"Did someone let a lion in here?" Fox asked, suspiciously.

"No. That was my stomach." Link answered.

Fox rolled his eyes and pressed another button. Out popped a little cube and when Fox pressed it, it expanded until it turned into an apple. He tossed it behind his back and Link caught it like a baseball. Link shrugged.

"Oh well. At least we won't go hungry." Link said as he took a bite out of the fruit.

Suddenly, there was a strange tingling sensation and it ended as soon as it began. Fox felt the exact same way Link did.

"That's strange…" Link said, "All of a sudden, I don't quite feel like myself anymore."

The Arwing II landed just outside a large city so they wouldn't attract attention. Fox hopped out and then noticed that the ship was notably larger.

"Hey, Link?" Fox called in curiosity.

"Yeah?" Link asked.

"Was our ship always this big?" Fox asked.

Link then came out and Fox looked bewildered. Link, feeling a little uncomfortable, felt that he should speak first.

"What? What is it?" Link asked with a shrug.

Fox's eyes widened as he spoke. His voice was, very poorly, trying to hide something bad.

"Nothing. D-Don't look in the mirror!" Fox quickly said as he put his arms up in the "NO" fashion.

Link looked in the Arwing II's window and screamed. Link was now a hedgehog with one large green spike and the others were yellow. He still had his gauntlets, boots, shield, and sword, but his tunic seemed to have merged with his body, seeing as his torso was green.

"I told you NOT TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR!" Fox said as he put his hand over his eyes.

Link looked back at Fox and then noticed something different.

"Uhh, Fox…Maybe you should look in the mirror too." The hylian warned.

Fox had the sudden feeling that he wasn't going to like this. He did it anyway and had similar results to Link.

When he calmed down, Fox said, "LINK! I'M SHORT! AND I LOOK LIKE SOMETHING FROM A CARTOON!"

Indeed, Fox's clothes appeared to have shrunk to fit his new form. He looked more like Tails in a spacesuit with this new makeover. Before any of them could say anything, something fast and blue zoomed right at them. All of them screamed before they collided and tumbled through the grass like bowling pins. When the tumbling stopped, Link sat up and shook his head. When Link opened his eyes, Sonic was sitting in front of him.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't have time to stop." Sonic apologized without opening his eyes.

"Sonic?" Link asked in surprise.

Sonic opened his eyes at the mention of his name. The voice sounded eerily familiar, but he simply cocked his head in confusion.

"Do I know you?" Sonic asked as he inspected him.

"C'mon, buddy? Don't you recognize me?" Link asked, holding his arms out in the "look at me" fashion.

Sonic blinked a few times and simply answered, "Sorry, but I've never seen you in these parts."

Link rummaged around for something to help him. He was about finished when he seized something and took out his gilded sword.

"What about THIS?" Link asked, a little more impatiently this time.

Sonic nearly fell over again and asked, "Link? You're a hedgehog, too?!"

He then looked over at Fox and was curious about this. Sonic's eyes widened in fascination for reasons Fox didn't know.

"Hey, Tails, I didn't know you had a spacesuit." The blue hedgehog said as he scratched his chin.

Fox looked around to see if anyone else was there and asked, "You talkin' to me?"

Link sighed and said to himself, "This is going to take a while."

A few minutes later, Sonic finally got the whole story. He got every detail from Link's battle with Allos to Scales smacking down those redeye.

"I see. That's Fox in the spacesuit. So, you're tracking someone down and you have to find these 'sages' and prevent Ganon from coming back. Amazing what you can do in just two months."

Link was shocked. "TWO MONTHS?! Where I come from, it's been TWO YEARS since we last met!"

Fox dipped his head in thought. This was a tough problem, but in the end, he came to a conclusion.

"Oh, I get it! Different dimensions must mean different space/time continuum." Fox said as he put up his finger in success.

Link scratched his head and asked, "What does that mean?"

Fox looked at Link and said, "A year in your world is a month in Sonic's world."

"Oh."

Sonic got to his feet and asked, "Well, which Sage are ya' looking for this time?"

Fox and Link looked at each other, then back to Sonic. They forgot to check.

"We don't know." They said in perfect coordination.

Link got to his own feet and said, in a confident voice, "But we're sure to find him or her soon."

Just then the earth underneath his feet moved and something burst out of the ground under his legs. A red, doglike head with dreadlocks had popped its head out and spat out a bit of dirt in the process.

"There you are, Sonic. I've been…"

WHAM! The thing conked his head on something. He looked up to see that he was between a green hedgehog's legs, with his eyes as wide as dinner plates and watering.

"Oh. Sorry, pal." The thing apologized.

Link managed to strain a few words. It wasn't easy, seeing as the creature's head had hit him in a place I won't even mention.

"No…harm…done."

The creature got itself out of the ground and Sonic strode over to his friends. He looked them over as Sonic went over to him.

"Fox, Link, this is Knuckles." Sonic introduced.

Link could see why he was called Knuckles. On each of this thing's fists were two large spikes that could only be used for one purpose.

"Don't worry. I only bite when I'm in a bad mood." Knuckles assured.

Sonic snapped his fingers and then asked, "Hey, guys, why don't you stay here for a while? I'll introduce ya' to everyone."

Fox and Link agreed and held onto both of Sonic's. In a second, Knuckles was simply left with a mouthful of dust.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!" Knuckles said as he took off.

Up on a pole, a black hedgehog was watching them. Its fiery red eyes seemed to pierce the ground everyone was standing on. This character had seen Link before, but that was a long time ago.

"It's Link and Fox again. How did they get here?" He asked himself.

He then paused and then asked himself, "Did they bring Zelda? I guess I'll have to wait and find out."

He then sped off, using his jet boots. It then turned out that he wasn't the only one watching them. In fact, there were five.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: From bad to worse**

Somewhere in the bushes, three pairs of eyes had just spotted the spaceship. Then, three people came out. It was the trio who caused a LOT of trouble before; Vector, Espio, and Charmy.

"Well, what is it?" Vector asked as he scratched his head. Charmy shrugged.

"It could be one of Eggman's ships." Espio suggested.

"How do you know?" Charmy asked in a know-it-all tone.

"Charmy, 'Knowledge' is my middle name." Espio told his inquisitive friend. Charmy was confused.

"Hey, Vector, is Espio's middle name 'Knowledge'?" Charmy asked.

"No. It's Eugene." Vector answered.

Espio's head seemed to turn as if it was on a cog. His yellow eyes could probably pierce through three inches of solid steel right now.

"Well, at least MY middle name isn't SUSAN!" Espio blurted.

A muscle in Vector's jaw twitched uncontrollably and his eyes widened, leaving him gaping. His jaw stopped twitching and he clenched his fists.

Then, he slowly turned and said, "YOU HAD TO BLAB THAT, DIDN'T YOU?!"

Espio then turned and asked, "Charmy, what's your middle name?"

"Oh, that's easy." Charmy said, "My middle name is 'The'."

Espio and Vector stood there, completely dumbfounded, before Vector spoke in disbelief.

"Charmy The Bee. What is this? Some kind of lame video game rip-off?" He asked.

"Vector, we can argue about middle names later, let's make sure Eggman doesn't try getting away." Vector suggested.

Everyone else smiled and agreed. A few minutes later, they did their work. They smashed it with monkey wrenches, took out the brakes, and even tampered with the landing gear.

After a good snigger, Vector said, "He's not going to be happy about this! And that's going to be something I'll ENJOY!"

Meanwhile, Sonic had taken everyone back to his crib. It wasn't really much; just a simple workshop-looking building. When they entered, a two-tailed Fox came up and shook both Fox and Link's hand.

"This here's my best buddy Tails." Sonic introduced.

"Fox McCloud. Sonic's told me ALL about ya." Fox said kindly.

"Actually, my real name is Miles Prower. But my friends call me 'Tails'." The fox said in a boyish voice.

"Pleased to meet you, Tails." Link said in his kind voice.

Without warning, the doors flung open and Shadow was standing in the doorway. Sonic turned, startled. After realizing that it was a friend, he calmed down and gave the thumbs up.

"Hey, Shadow. That was quite an entrance, you know. I'm pretty sure you know…" Sonic began, but Shadow cut him off.

"I know they are Fox and Link. I saw them land and you greet them." Shadow replied in his usual cold tone.

Knuckles growled as he put his fist so close to Shadow's face that a spike touched his black nose. The aggressive echidna then withdrew his fist, resisting every urge to punch something.

"Are you always like this?" He asked angrily.

Shadow glanced at him and answered, "Yes."

Shadow then turned to Link and slowly walked over to him. For a while, Link didn't know what Shadow wanted. However, there was something about Shadow that he trusted and he allowed the black hedgehog to approach him.

"Tell me, Link. Is Zelda with you too?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Link hung his hedgehog head and slowly shook it. Shadow simply closed his eyes and hung his own head. 

"Sorry, Shadow. She's back at Hyrule waiting for me." Link said in a sorrowful tone.

"Listen, Link, I have something I want to tell you…" Shadow began sounding as close to sorrow as Link had ever heard him sound, but something happened that changed their little conversation.

Shadow was about to tell Link something, when suddenly, there was a HUGE rumbling noise and the house actually came off the ground. Everyone saw that a HUGE robot was lifting it with hands the size of the roof itself. Link gaped at the sight and so did Fox. He doubted he even saw anything this big with the exception of the giant redeye or super-sized Scales. Sonic's eyes narrowed as he realized who this was.

"Eggman!" Sonic hissed.

There was an evil laughter, shortly followed by a man with a big, bushy mustache. Eggman's eyes were concealed by sunglasses, but one could tell that he was utterly amused.

"I see you have new friends, Sonic. Let's see them up close!" Eggman said evilly.

The giant hands threw the house away, causing it to explode into splinters on contact with the ground, and grabbed Link and Fox. They struggled against it, but the iron fingers were far too strong to break their grip. Fox doubted they would get out of this at all.

Link then got an idea, and with all his strength, he shoved his sword into one of the fingers. Electricity pulsed through it and zapped Eggman in the cockpit.

"OWCH!" Eggman shouted as the robot's fingers released Fox and Link.

The sudden change of things sent Fox and Link plummeting to the ground. They would surely die if they hit the surface. Fortunately, destiny had different ideas.

The bone-crushing impact didn't come. Instead, they landed in some soft car seats with a trio up front. Link and Fox had landed in a dark green Corvette that appeared just under them. Three people were there and turned around to reveal Vector, Espio, and Charmy.

"Hey, Link! Long time, no see. I didn't know you were a hedgehog." Vector heartily greeted.

Unfortunately, they heard thundering footsteps and Eggman's robot was headed right for them. Each of the metallic footsteps seemed to quake the earth.

Fox leaned forward and shouted, "TALK LATER! STEP ON IT!"

The car zoomed off with the robot close behind and catching up quick. When Link looked in the rearview mirror, he saw little white letters that spelled out "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" and Eggman was virtually kicking the rearview mirror.

"CAN'T YOU GO ANY FASTER?!" Fox asked impatiently.

Vector answered, "I gotta obey the speed limit."

"WHO CARES ABOUT THE SPEED LIMIT?! WE'RE ABOUT TO GET CRUSHED!!!" Link shouted at the crocodile.

"Hey, guys!" Someone shouted from above.

Everyone looked up to see Tails flying a blue airplane with Knuckles in the back seat, Sonic on one wing, and Shadow on the other.

"Ready, Shadow?" Sonic asked.

Shadow simply nodded and they both leapt off the wings. They turned into living cannonballs and they appeared to fuse into a bluish-black bomb. The huge sphere smashed into the robot and the pile of metal fell to the ground. Sonic and Shadow bounced off on impact and landed on their feet as they stood there with triumphant looks on their faces.

"You stand no chance, Dr. Egghead." Sonic said with confidence.

The robot simply got up, without a scratch on its body and reared up to its full height. The cannonball move didn't even leave a scratch on its armored body.

"WHAT?! We did our best combo and it didn't even faze him!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow was just as surprised. They could sink a ship with that attack, but they didn't do anything to this. Eggman just laughed.

"Is that all you've got? I've built this robot with a metal that can withstand your spin attacks. Behold EMPEROR EGGMA…"

Eggman was cut off because a blast of greenish-black energy rocketed into his robot and it began to go up in flames. Link turned upon hearing the explosion and saw that the blast of energy came from the sky.

"WHAT?! NO!! I WAS SO CLOSE!!!" Eggman shouted as he made his escape before the robot exploded into flame.

"What? Reinforcements?" Fox asked.

Link simply shrugged. Just then, a voice spoke up.

"Long time no see, Shadow." The voice was deep and rumbling like a waterfall. It didn't sound good, but Shadow's eyes widened as he realized who this was.

"No…It can't be!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Darkness at ease**

A big, black thing appeared from a giant red cloud and hovered so close to Shadow that it almost touched him. He had spikes with the same shade of red as Shadow's eyes and two, glowing red eyes with a large one in the middle of his forehead. He didn't have a mouth, but he spoke so loud that everyone heard it.

"Have you re-thought your opinion on obeying me?" It asked. If he had eyebrows, he would surely be cocking one.

"Black Doom? But you're supposed to be dead!" Sonic said, trying to sort things out. Vector scratched his head.

"I remember Shadow wiping this guy off the face of the earth. How'd he get back?" The crocodile asked.

Doom then raised his hand and created an energy disc of some kind. He flung it at the same time he said, "DIE!"

The energy disc rocketed into the car and with a great BOOM, it exploded into a fireball and sent everyone in it flying. Doom then fired another blast of energy into the air to hit a bullseye on the airplane. Tails and Knuckles braced themselves for landing, but instead, they crashed and got many nasty burns. Virtually everyone was wiped out. Everyone but Shadow…

Shadow turned to face his old enemy. The black hedgehog could feel his anger rising and a muscle twitching in his jaw. Suddenly, red energy began to pulsate from his body, turning him the color of open flame.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR TRYING TO KILL MY FRIENDS!" Shadow shouted in pure hatred. If Doom had a mouth, he would surely be smiling.

"That's it, Shadow. Unleash your anger. It will take you farther from your pathetic friends and closer to ME." He said as though they were having a nice cup of tea. This only made Shadow all the more angrier.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU! GET OUT OF MY LIFE! CHAOS…" Shadow began. Doom's good mood only spread as Shadow finished his sentence. "BLAST!!!!!!"

An enormous explosion of red energy engulfed the entire area, blowing up anything within twenty feet of Shadow. When the energy cleared, Doom was gone and Shadow was breathing heavily. Just then, the familiar voice spoke up again.

"Good job, Shadow. Look at what you've done."

Shadow whirled around to see that, through his anger, he accidentally Chaos Blasted his friends. His eyes were wide with shock. Doom materialized behind Shadow just when he had gone to check on Sonic. If Doom's smile existed, it would've spread so far, it would have gone off his face.

"Now for my part." Doom said in a voice of casual indifference. He raised his hand and created a blackish-green fireball. With a grunt, he hauled it at Sonic just as Shadow dove to protect him. The fireball hit Shadow and he collapsed onto the ground, causing Doom's laugh to increase.

"How pathetic. The ultimate life form protecting a bunch of lowlifes." Doom said as his whole body began to pump juices through his veins.

Doom began to grow until he was at least the size of King Kong. His cloak suddenly changed from inorganic material to large, batlike wings and he suddenly sprouted another head right out his back. Black Doom had just turned into Devil Doom, the beast that nearly took over the planet.

"Now you see that I am giving you no other option. Join me or DIE." Devil Doom boomed.

Shadow closed his eyes and then let his anger and pain go. Shadow didn't feel it, but he started glowing bright blue and, at a distance, you would've mistaken him for Sonic.

"Behold the ultimate power." Shadow said.

This time, Shadow's voice was no longer angry, but calm and defensive. And when Shadow opened his eyes, they were flickering like ruby flame. Devil Doom opened two mouthlike appendages that probably served as a mouth and unleashed a blast of flame. Shadow quickly seized Sonic and said two words.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

In a flash of blue light, Shadow disappeared and so did Sonic. All the fire blast hit was a bunch of air and the ground, which instantly charred under the heat. Devil Doom's soul eye widened in shock as he searched wildly for his opponent.

"What?! Where did that hedgehog go?" He asked out loud.

Then, a voice behind him answered in just two words. Two words that chilled him to the core.

"Right here."

Devil Doom whirled around to meet a shining blue Shadow, hovering in the air just above him. Shadow then dashed forward with the force of a bullet as Devil Doom flapped after him. Devil Doom created the fiery blast, but Shadow flew right through it and hit Doom right in the abdomen. Doom recoiled as Shadow rocketed past him and Before Doom had time to recover, Shadow came back like a blue boomerang and smashed into him again. When he came around the third time, Doom reacted too late. He had a big hole drilled right into him and black mist shot out of him like with super-Scales on Sauria. After a long time of screeching and cursing, Doom vanished completely. But not before he said a few words.

"Do not get comfortable, Shadow. There is evil far greater than me, and when you face it, you will suffer!" Doom roared before evaporating into the black mist.

Shadow, who was still blue, returned to the ground and touched everyone. In a matter of seconds, their wounds were healed and Link's eyes fluttered until he came back to his senses. He slowly got up and saw a blue hedgehog heal Fox.

"Sonic? Is that you?" Link asked.

"Sonic" turned around to reveal red eyes and Link's eyes widened so much, his eyes almost dried out.

"Shadow?" Link asked.

Shadow smirked and simply answered, "Yes, Link. I'm Shadow the Hedgehog."

Fox got to his feet and then remembered the mission. "Link, we've got to find the next shrine. I forgot to check my staff."

Fox then took out his staff and a blackish-purple light shone from the end. Fox examined it closely and then got the answer.

"We should be finding the Darkness shrine. Let's move." Fox commanded. Link nodded in agreement and they both dashed off.

After a long time, they found themselves in the same room with Krystal and Pikachu. The dark purple light cleared to reveal a familiar face.

"Hey, Link. Yes. I am the Sage of Darkness. I must thank you. If I hadn't seen you in pain, I wouldn't have been able to defeat Doom. Yes, I do have a spell for…Fox." Shadow said in a much wiser tone than his usual.

He raised his hands over his head and a dark purple light touched Fox.

"This spell will allow you to detect someone you can't trust. If it senses someone with a dark heart, it will glow and vibrate. Use it well." Shadow advised.

Shadow eyed Link, and the Hylian hero heard a voice in his head.

"Link, you know I have something with Zelda?" He asked. Link only nodded. "Then, you know I love her. But I know we're not meant for each other. So I ask something of you." Shadow continued.

Link said, "Fire away."

"I want you to promise that you'll keep her happy. If she's happy, I'll be satisfied. If you don't keep that promise, It will be the death of you." Shadow suggested.

Link smiled and answered, "That's a promise I'm sure to keep."

A white light engulfed both of them and Shadow's last sentence was, "Good luck on your journey. And good luck finding Allos."

They appeared right where their ship was, but when they did, they found that it was in shambles. Several parts were scattered across the ground and some parts of it were showing from shards of metal ripped off the cover.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" They both shouted.

Sonic raced into the scene and asked, "Hey, what happened?"

Link and Fox turned to him and began to talk in a worried tone.

"SOMEONE TORE OUR SPACESHIP APART! HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OUTTA HERE NOW?!" Link shouted, as though Sonic was deaf.

Just then, they noticed three shadows sneaking away and Fox smiled a wicked smile at the thought of his idea.

He pointed past the three shadows and shouted, "Look! It's the Three Stooges!"

One of them whirled around and asked, "Where?"

As a light shone down on them, the trio happened to be the Chaotix. When Vector whirled around, Link and Fox were looking him and his crew in the eye. Vector scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Uhhh…Sorry, guys. We didn't know it was yours." Vector apologized.

But he was too late. Steam was already coming out of both Link and Fox's ears and Sonic looked like Vector had done the dumbest thing in the world, which he did.

"VECTOR! In order to pay for this, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING TO REPAIR OUR SHIP NOW!!!!!" Fox roared.

Espio sighed and said, "I told you taking the ship apart was a bad idea."

"One more thing…" Fox added, a sly grin crossing his face.

A minute later, Vector, Espio, and Charmy were in clown costumes. All of them had colored wigs, rubber noses, and makeup on their face. They were even wearing clown suits with ruffled collars and large shoes.

Vector smacked himself in the forehead and asked, "Do we have to go through with this?"

Charmy answered by simply honking his rubber nose. Espio, on the other hand, simply inspected himself with the wig on.

"Now I know why reptiles don't have hair. We'd look RIDICULOUS!" The lizard fumed.

Vector and his gang then enacted antics from slapsticks to rubber chickens that made Fox, Link, and Sonic's sides split. Vector hadn't felt THIS humiliated since he sent fake love letters to Link and had to play mariachi music.

After several hours, the ship was up and running again. Vector and his gang were now so sweaty that the clown makeup was starting to wash off and Charmy couldn't fly much longer. While they worked, Espio tried to turn invisible, but the makeup stuck on him like glue and it didn't work.

"Thanks for fixing our ship, Vector. We all needed a laugh." Fox said, climbing into his newly repaired spaceship.

Then, an idea struck Link and he asked, "Hey, Sonic, care to come?"

Sonic shook his head, but looked up and covered, "I'll stay here and make sure Shadow doesn't wander off. Thanks for the offer, though."

Fox gave the thumbs' up and Link saluted before they blasted into space. Sonic turned around to see where the Chaotix were. They were gone; probably back at their house, trying to get rid of their costumes and makeup.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Allos repeat**

After a long trip through lightspeed, the Dimension Ring came to a halt. It stopped on a planet similar to our own and landed on the outskirts of what looked like a large city. The Arwing II detached from its boost and rocketed toward the planet. 

When they landed, Link looked at his hands and touched his face. He then looked in the mirror and saw he was no longer a hedgehog.

"FINALLY!" He shouted in happiness. Fox rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Alright, let's find out which Sage is next." Fox said as he took out his staff.

A red light poured out of its tip and revealed a kind of island with a volcano. You would have to be blind to guess what kind of sage lives in a volcano.

"Well, Link, since we're going into a volcano, we've gotta find the Fire Sage." Fox informed. When he turned around, Link's green tunic and hat were replaced by red copies.

"Goron Tunic. With this, I can withstand intense heat." Link explained.

Fox smacked himself in the face. He forgot to plan ahead and bring something heatproof.

"Uh," Fox said as he scratched his head, "Link, you wouldn't happen to have a spare one would you?"

Link pulled out a second tunic and said, "Got you covered."

Fox quickly pulled the tunic over himself and they were on their way.

Link and Fox sprinted down the road and could have sworn they saw something soar past overhead. Before any questions could be asked, they both ran into someone. When they cleared their vision, they saw a familiar mustachioed man.

"Mario?" Link asked in amazement.

"That's right! It's-a me, Mario!" The plucky Italian greeted.

Link then looked to the right and saw a taller man with green clothes and a large "L" on his hat. Whoever these guys were, they had to be related.

"Hey, who's this guy?" Fox asked as he pointed at him.

"I'm Luigi, Mario's brother." He answered. His voice was higher than Mario's and he sounded somewhat similar to him.

They stood up and said together, "We're the Super Mario Brothers!" Fireworks went off behind them and left Link and Fox staring.

"I almost forgot, guys. Do you happen to know where a volcanic island is?" Link asked.

Mario and Luigi were in deep thought. After about five minutes, they snapped their fingers and said, "Yoshi Island!"

A few hours found our heroes at the docks and a ship waiting for them. Fox looked around and saw it was like one of those fancy cruise ships. Link had never seen a ship like this and he admitted it was very good-looking.

Mario came out wearing a sailor hat and Luigi did the same.

"All ashore is going ashore!" They both shouted.

After that, they sped off and the ship was leaving the dock in minutes.

Miles away on an island, a strange aircraft landed on the far side of the landmass. A hatch opened up and revealed Allos in a very thieving mood. 

"Alright, time to get down to business." He said to himself.

He opened up a gun on his forearm and took out the red core. Then, he put in a kind of tube with long, pointy objects in it. After that, he stalked off into the jungle.

As he ran through the undergrowth, he heard something and ducked. He found out that it was just a little dinosaur. It walked on two legs, had a big cute nose, and wore red boots and a saddle of some kind. He had heard of these things in town. They were called "Yoshis" and they were perfect for his arsenal.

He looked at the green one, cocked his gun, and fired. A large dart hit the Yoshi in the leg and it yelped in pain. It looked at its leg and pulled the dart out. Allos then activated his new jetpack and flew off. He needed to find more Yoshis to dart.

Back with the green Yoshi, it was strolling through the jungle when a huge, flesh-eating lizard came out of nowhere and snarled at him. As it backed Yoshi into a corner, the dinosaur felt sick to its stomach. Just then, its eyes turned yellow and the large lizard began to shrink. Then, he realized that the lizard wasn't getting smaller. He was getting BIGGER.

The lizard saw a huge terror before it and began to run away as fast as its legs would carry it. It hadn't gone fifteen yards when something caught it by the tail. It struggled, but this thing was dragging it backwards. When he looked at it, it was a huge red thing that looked like a chameleon's tongue. As it dragged it away, the lizard felt its feet leave the ground and felt something close on its back. It felt the thing toss him into the air and with a CRUNCH, everything became nothing. Something killed this lizard.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Yoshi Park**

The ship arrived on the island and the four adventurers hopped off faster than you can blink.

"Finally!" Fox shouted, "I never liked boat travel anyway."

Link guessed that Fox liked sailing as much as he liked flying. But now wasn't the time to ask questions.

"Alright, Mario brothers, which way to the volcano?" Link asked.

Mario and Luigi screwed up their faces and snapped their fingers.

"It's right in the center of the island. However, we gotta go through the jungle first." Mario and Luigi said at the exact same time. 

Fox turned to Link and commented, "Wow. That's some talent. I couldn't do that with Falco in a hundred years." 

They were about halfway to the volcano when Fox stepped on something hard. He looked down and saw a kind of dart next to a large footprint similar to the Redeye track back on Sauria.

"Fox? What's that?" Link asked. Mario and Luigi were just as puzzled. 

"I know what it is. It's what's inside that stumps me." Fox answered. He then opened up a small device on his wrist and put the dart inside.

"I'm sending the results to Slippy. He'll tell us what's inside this baby." Fox told them.

There was a rustle in the bush and they whirled around. They were about to run when a red Yoshi ran out of the bush, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Hey! A local!" Mario said as he raised a hand.

"TALK LATER! RUN NOW!!!!" The Yoshi said as it ran past them. They looked at him for a while, but then turned around to see a blue dinosaur. It was tall enough to look Link in the eye and had sharp claws and teeth. There was even a row of spines going down its back. It was a kind of raptor, but nothing like Fox had seen.

Link whipped out his sword and shot lightning at the raptor. However, the raptor was smarter than he looked and ducked. It then began a series of birdlike calls. Then it struck Fox. 

"He's calling for backup." He said under his breath.

Just then, without warning another raptor leapt at Link only to miss by a mile. Link raised his sword, but the Yoshi stopped him.

"What are you doing?! Those things are TRYING TO KILL US!!" Link exclaimed.

"I don't know what they are. But they used to be Yoshis" The little red dude said.

Mario and Luigi's mouths hung open for a second too long. A raptor opened its mouth and out came a long, red tongue. It caught Mario on the hand and began drawing him closer.

"MAMA MIA!!!" Mario shouted as he struggled against the raptor's chameleon-like tongue.

Just when the raptor was about to have Mario for breakfast, something roared and crashed out of the undergrowth. It tackled the raptor and smashed the dinosaur's head into the ground. The thing had a huge, bulky body, a spiked shell, horns on its head, and flaming red hair. For a moment, Link thought it was a dinosaur. But it then spoke in a growling voice similar to Vector's but far deeper.

"What are YOU guys doing here?" The thing asked. Mario cocked an eyebrow and scratched his head. 

"Bowser? You're here too?" Mario asked.

The other raptor began to growl and Bowser simply said, "We can talk later."

Just when the raptor leapt at them, something long and red came out of nowhere and snatched it. It screeched as it was dragged away. When it had disappeared into the undergrowth, there was a sickening CRUNCH and the screeching stopped.

"We gotta get outta here if we want to see another day!" Luigi shouted as they took off. Strangely, the red Yoshi had followed them. Link turned around and began talking.

"Who are you and why aren't you like those guys?" He asked. The Yoshi sighed and took a seat.

"First off, my name is Rock. And second, THIS. Some dinosaur dude came here and began pelting the others with darts that turned them into monsters. I'm the only survivor." He explained.

Just then, Fox's sensor went off and the results came back in. Fox studied it and his jaw dropped.

"What is it, fleabag?" Bowser asked.

"It's the results. According to Slippy, the stuff in the darts is various dinosaur DNA. Most of it is from the largest carnivores in prehistory. Slippy says he even found a bit of pterosaur and crocodile in there." Fox answered.

Mario and Luigi seated themselves on a tree root. They were about to drift off to slumber-ville when something wet came down on them.

"Luigi? Is it raining?" Mario asked. Luigi shook his head and then they slowly...looked...up.

The 'tree root' they were sitting on was actually the toe of a dinosaur. It was no doubt a Yoshi, but it looked more like one of those tyrannosaurs on King Kong. In its mouth was the same raptor that tried leaping at them. We'll call it Y-rex for short.

The Y-rex tilted its head back and swallowed what was left of the raptor. After that, it roared and began to stomp toward our heroes. 

"Bowser, can't you take that thing on?!" Luigi shouted.

"I'm not THAT BIG!" Bowser shouted over the snapping jaws.

Just then, a big red tongue as thick as a python burst out of the Y-rex's mouth and caught Rock. The little thing fit right into the mouth and the Y-rex swallowed it whole. 

Fox rapidly typed a message and sent it to Slippy.

"HOW COULD YOU BE WRITING AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!" Bowser roared. 

"I've just sent Slippy a message to send in an antidote to these Yoshis." Fox shouted.

When the Y-rex finished swallowing Rock, it was still hungry and five servings wouldn't hurt at all.

Link and the others would either reach the volcano or die trying.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Injection**

Everyone sprinted as fast as they could away from the Y-rex, with its jaws snapping behind them. Once in a while, they had to roll in order to avoid the tongue.

"GREAT! This thing is a redeye with a fishing pole. Just our luck!" Link shouted in frustration.

Link found a good, rocky place and quickly ducked out of sight. Fox, Bowser, and the Mario bros. were quick to follow. The Y-rex looked around, sniffed the air, and then trundled off to find another hapless victim.

"Whew! I can't believe what happened back there." Bowser said as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Answer this, Bowser. How'd you get here?" Mario asked. He had been dying to ask that.

"Well, I was flying around in my Koopa Clown car. Then, it ran out of fuel and broke down. Now I'm here, stuck with you guys." Bowser explained in a somewhat embarrassed tone.

Fox took his pack off his back and took out a few things.

"Hungry?" He asked.

Mario and the others looked eagerly and Fox tossed individual packs of food to them. Link then took notice of a bottle filled with a strange liquid. He was about to open it when Fox stopped him.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you. I thought it would come in handy. It helped me on Sauria once. It scared away small predators, but mainly attracted Dreadfin or other Redeye." Fox explained.

Link stared at the bottle, then back at Fox.

"This is Redeye pee?" He asked.

Fox simply nodded.

"How'd you get it?" Link asked. 

"There are some things in life that are better left untold." Fox assured him.

Link slowly put the bottle down and looked at the volcano.

"As soon as I'm sure that Y-rex is gone, I'm gonna make a run for it." Link thought to himself.

Fox sighed and put his wrapper in the pack. 

"Quite some mission, huh, Link?" Fox asked. There was no reply. He whirled around and saw that Link had vanished. 

"Oh, great! C'mon, everybody. Link's run off." Fox said in the "He shouldn't have done that" attitude.

Link raced through the jungle toward the volcano and was just at the slope when another noise came. It was another Yoshiraptor, but a larger one.

"How many of you guys are there?!" He shouted. 

The Yoshiraptor continued to sprint toward Link and Link raced over a river and a log in there to get out. However, he tripped at the other bank and the raptor was sure to get him. Suddenly, a pair of jaws came out of the "log" and snapped up the raptor. Link guessed this was the Yoshi that had crocodile DNA in it. 

At first, Link was relieved to see that the raptor was taken care of. But it became obvious that the croc was still hungry. It crawled after Link and the agile Hylian scrambled up a tree and onto a log, suspended by vines.

The crocodile tried getting up the tree, snapping ferociously at Link's feet. Then, it started crawling away at top speed.

"Hey, what's he so afraid of?" Link asked himself. However, that question was answered when the 'suspended log' moved.

It wasn't a log, it was a pair of crocodilian jaws. They were like the croc's, but attached to a large body with a fin on its back. It was something like the Dreadfin, but it was bright yellow instead of red. This Yoshi got its DNA crossed with a Spinosaurus.

The Spino-Yoshi crossed its eyes to see Link on its nose and shook violently, trying to get him off. He almost succeeded, but Link got a hold of one of its teeth. Just then, a familiar roar sounded and the Y-rex appeared out of the jungle. It saw Link on the Spino-Yoshi's mouth and wanted a free meal. It let loose its python-sized tongue and almost got Link. Link dropped at the last second and the tongue only latched onto the Spino-Yoshi's jaw and pulled the lighter dinosaur closer. Although, it did weigh at least four tons, it remained rooted. Link wished he could say the same for its jaw. The tongue pulled so hard, it tore the jaw right off its hinges. Link actually went under the Spino-Yoshi's legs and the Y-rex ran after him, knocking over and crushing the Spino-Yoshi along the way.

Before the Y-rex could get Link, something swooped down and caught Link in its talons. It was a pink Yoshi, but it looked more like a pterosaur. Link struggled against it, but the Ptero-Yoshi's grip was true and wouldn't let go. Link almost lost his battle when something whistled through the air and hit the Ptero-Yoshi in the back. It wasn't an arrow, but a dart.

Before Link's eyes, the wings vanished and turned into arms. The talons disappeared and the beak turned into a cute nose. However, he was still in midair and the two fell through the air.

The falling suddenly stopped. Mario and Luigi were wearing hats with little bird wings on them and they were actually flying. Mario was holding Fox while Luigi was holding Bowser.

"Good thing, wing caps." Mario said as he flew by and caught the pink Yoshi on his back. It was a good thing the dinosaur was small.

"Hey, Link! Slippy's darts came through just in time." Fox told him. 

"Bowser, ..." Luigi strained, "You REALLY need to lay off the pie!"

"I can't help it! They're just SO CREAMY and DELICIOUS!" Bowser said as he went into a daydream.

Just then, the same python-sized tongue rocketed out of the growth and snatched Mario's wing cap.

"Uh-Oh!" Mario said as he plummeted to the ground.

They hit the ground rolling as they saw their old friend Y-rex, roaring its lungs out. Just when it charged, Fox planted his staff into the ground and a layer of ice spread across the earth's surface. The Y-rex slipped and fell to the ground with a CRASH. Fox quickly pulled out a blaster, loaded a dart, and fired. It hit the Y-rex smack in the nose and the Y-rex began to shrink. It turned into a little, green Yoshi and it got up dazed.

"Oh, I don't feel so good." The little guy said. He then covered his mouth, but couldn't do it much longer. He regurgitated Rock, who was still somewhat moist.

"You did it, Fox! You did it, Link! ...Fox?...Link?" Mario asked as he looked around. Fox and Link were gone.

The two had just reached the Fire shrine and activated their keys. They were instantly transported to the same area Krystal, Pikachu, and Shadow were revealed. The red light shone and Rock appeared.

"You're joking, right?" Link asked.

"No. In my village, I was the Shaman's apprentice." Rock answered.

Fox and Link stood there, mouth agape.

"Back to business. I thank you for helping some of my friends and I hope you defeat Allos. I also thank you for saving my mentor…" He started, but Fox cut him off.

"Who's your mentor?" He asked.

"He was the Y-rex." Rock answered, "However, I still say Link could do with this."

Rock raised his arms into the air and formed a red light that fused with Link. For the second time in the quest, Link felt a new power rush through his body and he could also feel it in his blade, too.

"This spell will allow you to create fire waves from your sword. Use it well." Rock advised.

The white light appeared and Rock's last sentence was, "I think I should be a graduate due to that."

Fox and Link reappeared on the island with the Mario bros. and Bowser waiting for them. Bowser seemed the most eager to get away from that place, seeing as he was tapping the ground with his foot.

"Well, guys. Our job is done here." Link informed them.

The Mario Bros. were stunned at the fact that they had to leave so suddenly when there was still work to be done.

"What about the Yoshis?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, how are we going to cure them?" Luigi asked.

"Especially since they've been turned into those monsters." Bowser added.

Fox took out two guns and handed them to Mario and Luigi. Bowser tilted his head, curiously, while Mario and Luigi inspected the guns handed to them.

"There are darts in there that contain the antidote for them. I'm counting on you to help these Yoshis return to normal." Fox encouraged.

Bowser put a hand on his face and said, "I guess I'll be stuck here for a while. I'll help you, but I WON'T LIKE IT!"

Fox and Link bid their friends farewell and soon headed off. When they reached the other side of the island when something struck Link.

"Wait. How are we going to get out of here if the Arwing II is all the way on the mainland?" He asked.

Fox simply pushed a button on the device on his wrist and the Arwing II shot all the way to Yoshi Island and landed right in front of them.

"Good thing, autopilot." Fox said as he clambered into the cockpit.

Link climbed in as well, still a little spaced out at what Fox did, and they were out into space. They attached to the Dimension Ring and were dimension warping again.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Pack hunting**

The Arwing II materialized from warpspeed and appeared in the range of the strangest planet Link and Fox had ever seen. It wasn't spherical, but shaped like a star.

"Well, that was unexpected." Link admitted in surprise.

The Arwing II landed on the planet's yellow surface, but it was surprisingly green and lush in vegetation. They hopped out of the ship and Fox began to check up on it.

"Well, Link, we'll need to recharge when we're through with this." Fox informed quickly.

Link smirked and sent a small charge through his sword, causing it to glow.

"Not a problem." He added.

Fox made one quick adjustment to the ship before they headed off.

"Hey, Fox, what did you do?" Link asked, curiously.

"Oh, I just turned down the main power supply." Fox answered.

"What?" Link asked, still clueless on technology.

"I turned it off for a while so it can save energy until we return." Fox explained again.

"Well, why didn't you say so the FIRST time?" Link asked with a shrug.

They had barely gone a few yards when there was a strange thing in front of them. It had a brown outside, but a yellow center. It also had arms, legs, and a pair of big black eyes. (Waddle-Dee) It walked by, humming a happy tune and Fox and Link stared at it as it walked by.

"Three guesses of whose world we're in. And the first two don't count." Fox said as he lowered his eyebrows.

Just then, his staff acted up again. It began to glow bright purple and Fox immediately whipped it out. The staff projected the map and showed the entire planet and which elemental sage they were after.

"Looks like we're after the Wind Sage." Link said as he inspected the symbol on the map.

Just then, there was a rustle in the bush and the two whirled around. Fox took out his blaster and aimed it at the bush. The minute it cocked, something shot out with its tiny arms out.

"I SURRENDER!!!" It shouted.

Suddenly, Fox knew whose voice this was and instantly knew who it was when it popped out.

"Long time no see, Kirby." Fox said as he put his gun away.

Kirby put his arms down and asked, "Fox? Link? WHERE'VE YOU BEEN, BUDDIES?!"

"It's a long story." Link said as he scratched his head.

"Well, make it short. I like short." Kirby demanded.

Fox and Link both sighed and shrugged before they began telling their story.

Miles away on the planet Pop Star, Allos had gotten there first. However, he was with another person. The person was tall, lanky, and had razor-sharp claws on his hands and feet. He had a head similar to the raptors on Yoshi Island, but he was standing upright like a human. Like Allos, he had three fingers, but wore no boots. Instead, he was barefoot and he had three toes on each foot. Although, on both feet, there was one toe with a huge claw on it. He had a pair of bullet belts wrapped around his chest as well as a few straps on his boots, which held mini-swords and daggers. This look made him look like he was ready for any war as well as having one of his eyes gouged out. The gouged out eye had a scar running over its eye and the rest of the eye was white.

"I'll need your help for this one, Antirrhopus (An-tyro-pus)." Allos requested.

"You're going to need it, Allos. We wouldn't want Ganon to destroy you the minute he breaks out, would we?" Antirrhopus had a voice that was soft, but sharp like a snake hiss, and had a bit of growl in it.

Allos simply snorted in an attempt to hide a laugh and handed Antirrhopus a belt with all kinds of weapons on it; knives, caliber guns, rifles, pistols, and snipers were just a few of the things on it. There was even a machine gun on it.

"If you fail, Antirrhopus, you're on your own." Allos warned.

The bounty hunter then activated his jetpack and flew off while Antirrhopus simply ran off faster than a wolf.

In the shadows, another figure was watching, but THIS was one of the good guys. He vanished instantly and had to warn those on his side.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Power of da' wind**

Link and Fox were on their way to the Wind Shrine and had been doing so for about a day. Ever since Kirby joined in, their food supply had diminished somewhat.

"Kirby, how many times do I have to tell you? 'NO SNACKING ALONG THE WAY!" Fox scolded in a manner similar to your dad's.

"I can't help it. I have a bottomless pit for a stomach." Kirby plead.

"He must be related to Yoshi." Link whispered.

"What's a Yoshi?" Kirby asked as he scratched his head.

"Never mind." Fox said as he made a waving gesture with his hand.

Link, deciding to change the subject, asked, "Hey, how close are we to the shrine?"

Fox checked the map on his staff and said, "Can't be more than a few hours away."

"I don't think we can survive if KIRBY keeps EATING all our FOOD!" Link said, emphasizing in an almost shout.

"Whoa, I thought we got over that, buddy." Kirby said, pointing at Link.

They had crossed mountains, deserts, and grassland when they finally found the shrine. When they did, Link let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, this was easy. No monsters, no robots, no demons, no dinosaurs. Nothing." Link thought out loud.

"This is TOO easy, Link. I think Allos has something set up for us." Fox said with caution.

They opened the door and there didn't appear to be anyone there. It was no more than a giant, marble room with pillars and the two slots right in the middle of it.

"There's nothing there, Fox." Link said, trying to get his friend to lighten up.

THAT opinion changed when something nearly pierced his foot. Link moved quickly to avoid another knife and even a blaster bolt. As Link dodged these, Fox looked up to see two creatures. One was all-too-familiar with its jetpack and silver armor, but the other was new. The new creature was clutching the ceiling with its claws and dropped to the floor ten feet in front of Link while the other was flying and hovered to the ground.

"Long time no see, McCloud. I see you and your elf friend have followed me." Allos sneered.

"We know perfectly who you are, Allos. It's your crony we don't know." Fox snapped back as he pulled out his staff and Link drew his sword.

"Allow me to introduce Antirrhopus, my right hand man." Allos said in a mock introduction.

Antirrhopus simply pulled out a machine gun, loaded it, and cocked it. The smile the raptor produced looked like it would have split his cheeks and fallen off his face at the same time. This guy was an obvious murderer; he just had to be spurred in the right place.

"I'm here for your heads. The Dimension sages are ours and we'll use them to revive Ganon." Antirrhopus hissed as he aimed his gun.

Without warning, Fox sprang for Antirrhopus and Link sprinted toward Allos. Allos simply took off and already left Link at a bit of a disadvantage. Link then remembered his magic and pointed his sword at Allos. A bolt of lightning shot out only to miss Allos by a mile, who countered with a blast from his rifle. Allos continued shooting, only to have the blasts bounce of Link's Mirror Shield. Link had to draw Allos close to him, but the dinosaur had obviously learned a lesson from his previous encounter.

"THIS is going to be tough." Link thought to himself.

Fox was spinning his staff at high speed to protect himself from firing machine gun bullets. He got very close and swung only for the raptor man to leap away in a tight flip. Antirrhopus landed a good twenty feet away, but Fox was there to meet him. The Star Fox leader followed up by bringing his staff up and smacked the gun out of Antirrhopus' hand. Antirrhopus stared at the empty hand, shrugged, and simply pulled out a knife.

"Physical combat? MY PLEASURE!" Antirrhopus snarled as he sprang again.

Antirrhopus leapt clean into the air and came to meet Fox face-to-face. Fox put up his staff and blocked a downward swipe that would have made a scar going from his right eye to the bottom left part of his jaw. He blocked another attack by spinning and bringing it into the ground. The permafrost in the planet was suddenly brought to the surface as spikes started to jut out at odd angles. However, Antirrhopus simply leapt around like a rabbit and dodged each one. He came back at Fox, kicking and thrusting with Fox moving his staff all over the place trying to block them. However, he had just finished his combo when Fox brought his staff in a horizontal strike. Antirrhopus acted on instinct and seized the staff's middle and the two started to try and yank the other one away. Fox spun his staff, forcing Antirrhopus to try and get another grip. But when the raptor tried, Fox slipped it out of his three-fingered hand and caught him across the face with it. Antirrhopus flinched for less than half a second and countered with a tail swipe to Fox's leg. Fox tripped and quickly guarded with his staff to prevent Antirrhopus from getting him with his knife.

Allos was continuing to try and blast Link to no avail. Allos aimed his body downward and hovered so he wouldn't rocket at Link and launched a missile at Link. Link countered by zapping the rocket with his sword, causing the missile to explode in a cloud of smoke and leaving a momentary smokescreen. When Allos was looking around for Link, there was a huge wave of fire coming to meet him. Allos' eyes widened as the flame wave hit him right in the chest and sent him spiraling through the air. Though his armor was fireproof, his armor was heated and he felt like he was inside a volcano WITHOUT his armor on.

"Haven't you heard? If you play with fire, you're bound to get burned!" Allos growled as he pointed his arm at Link.

A jet of fire came out of a barrel mounted on Allos' wrist and it almost torched Link. The hylian hero dodged the first blast, seeing heated floor in front of him, which was now burning hot. Allos launched another flamethrower at Link, but the hylian raised the mirror shield and the flame rebounded onto Allos, causing the dinosaur bounty hunter to feel the heating sensation again. Allos was RAGING mad and had enough games. He used the grappling hook on Link's arm, but Link was strong enough to bring Allos closer with a good yank. However, that's what Allos wanted. The minute Link was about to bring his sword up to cut him, Allos planted a solid steel boot into Link's jaw. It almost knocked one of Link's teeth out and sent the hylian skidding to the floor. Now Allos had the advantage.

Allos was about to blast Link's face into smithereens when there was a huge gust of wind and it began to blow Allos back. Kirby had inhaled a huge amount of air and blew it out at Allos. Allos struggled against it, but he couldn't hold his footing and was blown away and into Antirrhopus just when he had Fox on his back.

"Watch it!" Antirrhopus snarled.

Allos got up and snapped back, "You watch it!"

Allos turned to where his opponent was and raised a blaster, but Link flipped to his feet and brought his sword up to hack off the blaster's barrel. Allos stared at it too long and Link's shield buried itself into his reptilian face. Allos was knocked to the ground, but brought his foot up to meet Link's chest. Allos staggered to his feet and threw a good punch at Link. However, Link's shield proved too durable for him and all Allos got was a fist throbbing with pain. Allos suddenly noticed that he had an urgent appointment somewhere else…ANYWHERE else. He reactivated his jetpack and flew off again before anyone here could take notice. Link got up and stared as Allos headed out the door like a bird trapped in a house.

"Coward." He growled as he went for Antirrhopus.

Antirrhopus saw him coming out of the corner of his eye and quickly leapt aside. Link had to call his attack short or he'd cleave Fox in two and Fox also halted before he could smash Link's face with his staff. Antirrhopus then spun around to bring his tail into Link's face like a whip and proceeded to punch Fox in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Antirrhopus then swept the ground and knocked both of them to the ground. He raised a pair of knives into the air and stuck them through Link's left shoulder and Fox's right. The knives dug in so deep, they penetrated the shoulder as well as the ground. Antirrhopus took out a caliber rifle and pointed its barrel close enough for them to kiss it and prepared to pull the trigger.

"Ah, I'm going to enjoy this." Antirrhopus said, enjoying it already.

However, fate had other plans for him.

Antirrhopus was about to fire when something shot at it and knocked the gun out of the raptor's hand. It was Kirby, but he wasn't alone. There was an armored guy with a cape and shoulder armor right next to him, staring at the dinosaur with his yellow eyes.

"Another challenger?" Antirrhopus asked in self-confidence.

"Why don't you try your luck on Metaknight here?" Kirby asked as he gestured towards the guy.

Meta Knight flung his cape back and drew a rather sword. Antirrhopus scoffed at this…thing and pulled out a knife. The raptor sneered and simply spoke in a cold tone.

"Hit me with your best shot, short stuff."

Antirrhopus regretted it, because Metaknight had sprung. The smaller warrior was aiming low rather than high, so it made the raptor warrior's height a bit of a disadvantage. He had to keep jumping and ducking low to strike. If he had fought anyone, he had to admit that this was probably his toughest opponent. Metaknight spun around to bring his blade across Antirrhopus' chest, leaving a long, thin gash. Antirrhopus snarled in surprise and countered with a swipe of his own. It scarred a bit of the little knight's armor, but didn't do much other than that. When he kicked his clawed foot at Metaknight, the little guy was gone and already on his other side. Antirrhopus quickly whirled around and brought his tail up to meet Metaknight. However, Metaknight brought his sword up in a vertical slash. Antirrhopus roared in anger as his tail flailed around on the ground like a worm. He then glared at Metaknight with pure hatred.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that!" He roared.

Behind his back, Fox had put his hand around the knife embedded in his shoulder and painfully wiggled it out. He then did the same with Link's knife and they were both free. Link's sword arm was useless, so he couldn't use his sword and Fox's arm was in similar condition. His left hand had the staff in it and he would only have one shot at Antirrhopus.

At the battle, Antirrhopus and Metaknight were leaping everywhere they could from pillars to chunks of debris from Link's fight with Allos. Then, the turning point. Antirrhopus tossed his knife to make Metaknight block, but it left the little guy open to a claw kick. It caught him across his armored face and scarred his helmet. Now it seemed to be over. Antirrhopus walked over to Meta Knight and raised the knife high into the air, ready to kill.

It didn't come. When Metaknight opened his yellow eyes, he saw Antirrhopus with a huge ice spike going right through his midsection. Fox had been waiting for that moment: the only time when the raptor would stand still. Metaknight got to his feet and put his cape around him.

"I must thank you, stranger. If you hadn't done that, I would be dead." Metaknight said as he bowed.

Metaknight's voice was deep and he spoke with a sexy Spanish accent. Fox thought this a bit annoying, but at least he was a friend.

"It was nothing. That lizard was creepy anyway." Link said casually.

"Alright, down to business." Fox said quickly.

He found the keyholes and he planted his staff in one at the same time Link did with his sword. A flash of purple light engulfed them and Kirby had to shield his eyes from the flash. When he uncovered his peepers, they were gone.

Fox and Link found themselves in the dimensional chamber with the purple one glowing. As the light faded, the figure turned into…

"Metaknight?" Link asked, surprised.

"I am indeed the sage of wind. I'm sorry for not getting a chance to greet you properly. But, I am thankful for you taking out that cutthroat." Metaknight thanked, "This spell is for you, Fox McCloud."

"Hey, how didja know my name?" Fox asked as he scratched his head.

Metaknight gave a small chortle. If Kirby was here, he would have teased him for laughing, which Metaknight was glad he wasn't.

"Kirby told me all about you and your friends. Here is your spell."

A purple light touched Fox and he felt power flow through his veins.

"This spell will allow you to summon high winds by spinning your staff. Learn to use it well." Meta Knight explained.

A white light appeared and Meta Knight's last sentence was, "I look forward to the day we can battle."

Fox and Link reappeared at the Arwing II with Kirby right there to meet them.

"Guys? Where's Metaknight?" He asked in a somewhat worried tone.

"Take it easy, Kirb. He's a sage of wind and he'll be back." Fox answered.

"Oh. I knew that." Kirby said with a blush.

"Of course you did." Fox said as he tinkered with the Arwing II, turning it back on, and then asking, "Link, charge this baby up, will ya?"

"Don't mind if I do." Link said, holding up his sword.

Link opened up the hatch to the core, stuck his sword inside, and sent lightning through it. Power flowed through the Arwing II's circuits and everything was soon at full power. Kirby stared in awe at this.

"Wow. Who needs jumper cables when you have THAT?" Kirby asked.

"See ya, Kirby." Fox said as he climbed into the cockpit.

"See you later, alligator!" Kirby called as the ship took off.

The dimension ring was right there, they attached, and they shot off to the next destination.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Spaced out**

The Arwing II came to a ringed planet that was different from all the others. It was bright red tinged with orange and looked surprisingly like an oversized orange.

"Uh oh." Fox said in surprise.

"What is it, Fox?" Link asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I've detected no plant life at all on that planet." Fox told his friend.

Link shrugged at this and asked, "So?"

"It's plants that boost the air we breathe with oxygen. So, without plants, that planet's air is TOXIC to us." Fox simplified.

"Oh. So, we can't land on that planet, huh?" Link said, trying to imagine a planet without plants.

"You know it." Fox answered.

The Arwing II stopped going on the planet and started exploring the asteroid belt surrounding it. They had been exploring for two hours and then, Fox saw it. A space station was orbiting the planet just inside the atmosphere and it looked like no one was there.

"We'll stop there. If there's a space station, there'll be oxygen." Fox said as he brought his ship inside.

"And possibly people or any other life form." Link added.

Fox and Link landed their ship in the hangar bay, which had a kind of barrier to keep the air in and the vacuum of space out. When the Arwing II came to a complete stop, Fox and Link stepped out and explored the place. It looked pretty deserted; there was no sign of life at all; it was so quiet you could probably hear leaves crunch. Link then heard a kind of groaning and saw a bipedal creature reaching for him. Link jumped back in surprise, but it reached the full length of its arm and fell back down, dead as a doornail.

"Okay. THAT was creepy." Link said as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

Then, they continued checking out the space station. They didn't know, however, that someone WAS here and they were alive and well. NOT sick or dying.

On the general's quarters on the far side of the space station, an old friend was waiting for them. He was an iron, dragon-like creature with steel teeth like a shark's and wings made of the same material. Its long tail had a kind of arrowhead at the end, which was as sharp as a razor. The only organic part of him was what was behind that metal head of his. The creature's skin was deep purple with orange, hawk-like eyes. Behind him were strange, two-meter creatures covered in armor and had pincer-like jaws. One of these creatures had a small crater with a corona of carbonization surrounding it: the sign of a blaster wound. The other had a wound on the upper right part of its face. This one got shot right in the head and survived. The thing this creature attacked, obviously, didn't. The iron dragon was none other than Ridley the space pirate, an alien being which had devastated galactic police forces for decades. After all the times Samus dealt with him, he had to make himself more and more like an android until he was no more than this.

A computer began to beep rapidly and Ridley went to go check it out. He typed in rapidly and put up the security cameras. One screen showed two figures running side-by-side and the other showed a soul person. Ridley growled and spoke to his bodyguards in a robotic voice.

"We have company. Send in all available Metroid clones…Wait, scratch that. Useless things, Metroid clones, more of a danger to us than to Samus. Space Pirates and Space Hunters only. Bring them to me ALIVE."

Ridley's voice was electronic, but it was highly manipulative. Like a man's voice speaking through a robot's voice simulator. The bodyguards nodded and strode off like gentlemen. Ridley sat back down in his chair and awaited the results.

"You're not escaping my grip this time, Samus Aran." Ridley said as he crushed the arm of his metal chair as though Samus' neck was in it.

Ridley and his bodyguards weren't the only living things in the general's quarters. There were also Space Pirates of every shape and color in the room and working computers that kept this place up and going. However, this space station was very old and they could only keep it up for so long.

"Ridley, we cannot stay here for long. This base only has enough air in it for one or two days. We…" One of these space pirates began.

His sentence was interrupted by Ridley's iron fist smashing into his face and sending his face into his braincase. Ridley then seized the Space Pirate by the neck and lifted him so suddenly that he took the chair off the ground and it was bolted down. The iron dragon then tossed the dead Space Pirate away like a useless toy and turned to the others.

"Anyone else have a complaint?" Ridley asked, one of his organic eyebrows raised.

Ridley looked at the Space Pirate and would have smiled if he had a proper face. THIS was the fate that would await Samus and anyone else who stood up to him.

Back near the hangar, Fox and Link were running at top speed, trying to find the general's quarters or any other place where they could find help. Just then, a wall of pure energy blocked their way and when they turned around, there was another one. Link was curious about this wall of shimmering energy and extended his sword. Lightning shot out of its tip, but the blast was absorbed by the barrier's energy.

"Okay, that was a bad idea." Link said as he sheathed his sword.

"I have the worst feeling that someone is still in this base. And I think he wants us dead." Fox said as he narrowed his eyes.

A few minutes had passed when two doors on the right side of the hall opened up. Link looked and saw a few Space Pirates come in from both of them. They snarled and growled as they surrounded the two of them, their blasters aimed for the kill.

"Put away your weapons!" One of them growled.

Several of the other Space Pirates bobbed their heads and eagerly said, "Roger, roger."

Link scoffed as he fingered his sword, but then came two creatures Link had to think twice about. They were the two-meter creatures that Ridley had sent after them and one of them deactivated the energy shields before speaking in a snarling, vibrating voice.

"He said, 'Put away your weapons', scum!" The thing said, its pincer-like jaws clacking together with each word.

In less than a second another one of the armored creatures strode in with him and put forward one of its hands, which had sharp claws on them. Link took it that these weren't just useless minions, seeing from the injuries they survived: severe burns and blasts. They dashed forward and seized Link's arm. Link struggled, but then Fox whispered something under his breath.

"Don't fight back. He'll take us to whoever he works for."

Link got the idea and reluctantly followed the creature just when the second one got Fox's arm and began to lead him away.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Fox." Link thought to himself.

The guards' grips were very tight around their arms, but Link had been through worse. Much worse. Fox seemed to have no problem with their grip, obviously from his adventures on Sauria. However, these creatures didn't care what they did and didn't do and continued to drag them around the space station.

In a matter of minutes, Link and Fox were led to a room where there was a massive chair and an even larger computer. The chair turned around, revealing the all-too familiar face of the android alien Ridley. Ridley slowly rose from his chair and stalked toward them, his metal talons leaving deep gashes in the floor. Ridley stopped so close to Fox and Link that they could look him in the eye.

"Ah, Link and Fox. I haven't seen YOU in a couple years." Ridley said in mild interest.

Link was shocked at the sight of Ridley. Last he saw him, Samus had blown him to smithereens at Lon-Lon Ranch. The metal corpse had since been apprehended, but Ridley was alive and well now.

"Ridley? But you're supposed to be dead!" He said, trying to find an explanation.

Ridley only laughed and simply strode toward another door.

"How long will it take you to realize I die hard? You think I'd go down THAT easily?" Ridley hissed.

The mechanical monster then checked the monitors on his computer and saw his bodyguard coming back to the general's quarters with a soul figure. A figure clad in armor and had shoulder armor that looked more like shoulder pads.

"Ah, another one of my bodyguards should be bringing the last prisoner right about now." He said with careful timing.

The door opened and a third bodyguard came out with a familiar bounty hunter. It was Samus and she apparently had the same plan as they did.

"Ah, Samus Aran again. I was expecting you to make a more…heroic capture of me." Ridley teased, smiling in his mind.

Under her helmet, Samus Aran was gritting her teeth in rage and Link could hear it in her voice.

"You won't be living after we're through with you, you space salamander." Samus growled.

Ridley only laughed at this.

"And just how are you going to do that with your useless insults? My guards aren't letting you go anytime soon." Ridley asked sarcastically, not spotting the smirk on Fox's face.

"LIKE THIS!" Fox shouted as he took out his staff and smashed one of the bodyguards with it.

The minute the staff made contact with it, the strange thing staggered and its armor actually cracked, then its armor broke into pieces. Link winced as he looked at these creatures. They could have been humans: humans that were made of a strange, jellylike substance and had many nuclei inside its body right where joints could be. Its jaws were four pincers that were like fangs, and acted in the same fashion as teeth to you and me. It got to its feet and let out a series of cursing that involved something about its fangs and Link's braincase.

"EUGH!" Fox said as he stuck out his tongue.

Like any villain, Ridley was furious that Fox slipped by his guard that easily and ground his metal teeth together, causing small sparks to shoot from his mouth.

"ORGANIC SCUM!" Ridley roared and the other bodyguards reacted by trying to hurry them away.

They hadn't even started when Link knocked his guard away and drew his sword just as Samus wrenched her arm free, seized one by the arm and heaved it over her shoulder. Ridley was about as enraged as a disturbed rhinoceros as he snarled and pointed his metal claw at the three of them.

"MAKE THEM SUFFER!" Ridley commanded.

The other guards advanced on them and if they had eyes, they would surely be flaring with rage. Their pincers clacked as though Fox, Samus, and Link's necks were in them as they flexed their gelatinous muscles.

"Careful. Those are a new species of Metroid. They're called Magnatroids. I've fought them before and they are STRONG!" Samus warned.

The minute the tossed Magnatroid's armor came off, another one did the same because Link struck with his sword. One leapt across the room and landed in front of Fox. Then, the Magnatroid did something very strange. It put its arm up and a piece of its body came out that turned into a kind of staff, flowing with a kind of dark purple electricity. It prodded Fox with it and Fox leapt back from the shock.

"YEOWCH! Now I've learned my lesson." Fox said as he drew his staff.

Fox sprung at the same time Link engaged his own Magnatroid. Link parried each move, trying to keep away from the spark lances (That's what we'll call them.) and Fox was doing the same. Link parried a strike from his opponent's lance and got down low to sever one of its legs below the knee, which he expected to end the fight. However, the Magnatroid didn't slow down. Instead, it used its lance as a crutch and hopped around on its remaining leg after Link. Link then saw that the stump where he severed the leg was slowly growing back and quickly started parrying before the gelatinous creature could thrust with its lance. Samus was right when she said that these things were strong.

Fox went staff against staff and his Magnatroid opponent didn't even show signs of weakness. Fox pushed his opponent away to try and give it a strike on the side with his staff. All Fox's attack did to it, though, was simply jar it. Fox evaded another strike from one of the Magnatroid's attacks. The spark lance gave him a very nasty bruise and he did NOT want to add to his collection. Fox swung his staff at the Magnatroid's head with such force to break a human neck, but this was NOT a human and it had no bones to break.

Samus was doing fairly well blocking her opponent and was doing so with her gun arm. She pushed the spark lance away and quickly pointed up at its head, where the main nucleus was. In a blast of plasma, the head exploded, but reformed again and the jelly-like creature was still able to fight. It caught Samus completely off-guard and began to spin its staff wildly, catching Samus in the back and sending a small amount of electricity through her armor. Samus' armor wasn't electric-proof and she staggered forward before the Magnatroid spun around on its staff to kick Samus in the back. Samus skidded forward as she recovered from the blow and continued fighting this overgrown jellyfish off. However, she was a little rusty, because after all, it had been a long time since she fought one and she would have to learn fast.

In the background, Ridley was sneaking away to the hangar bay with one space pirate following him and trying to talk him out of leaving. The little pirate's talking was pestering Ridley so much that he smashed the poor thing's face with his fist out of simple irritation.

"So annoying, your kind." Ridley snarled as he walked away, shaking green goo off his hand.

Ridley was so stealthy that he wasn't seen or heard during the fight between the three heroes and the Magnatroids. Along with the fact that the Magnatroids were much better bodyguards than they let on and they made sure that no one could get to him in time. The minute Ridley reached the hangar bay, he spread his metallic wings and, was flying off for the barren planet. He didn't need to worry about losing oxygen or his juices overheating in the vacuum, being part machine. Ridley gave a croaking laugh of success before activating his communicator.

"Everything is going according to plan, Allos. I've just lost them and I'm heading for the planet." He said, his metallic jaws clanking together.

"Good job, Ridley. But you better not mess up this time. I can only bring you back to life so many times." Allos warned.

"With all this weaponry you've installed in me, I'll surely be victorious." Ridley assured.

Surprisingly, this remark only seemed to anger Allos.

"DON'T GET COCKY, YOU TIN CAN IGUANA! I have fought the hylian before and he nearly beat me twice. Take excellent care or I'LL MAKE GOOD USE OF YOUR PARTS!" Allos said in a half roar.

The conversation came to a rather abrupt end and the communicator buzzed out of focus. Ridley, trying to understand what Allos was saying, let out a kind of snort.

"Like they will beat the ultimate war machine. I'll be armed with a lot more than just electric prods and mechanical strength." Ridley thought to himself as he continued toward the planet.

Back at the space station, the Magnatroids were becoming a handful. There was no ice in a space station, so that counted out Fox's Permafrost control and after seeing what happened with Samus' Magnatroid, Link could tell that his lightning sword wouldn't work either. These guys were beyond strong, they were just plain TOUGH. Whenever one of them raised their weapon, the Magnatroid was already blocking them and when they got a good injury, it proved not to be so good. The Magnatroid would either shrug it off or regenerate anything it did lose from its hand to its head. Just then, a thought hit Fox's mind.

"Link! Use your fire sword!" Fox sounded like he was on to something and Link trusted him.

He swung his sword at the nearest Magnatroid and the fire wave hit. The Magnatroid's body began to sizzle and shrivel up somewhat. After a few seconds, it fell to the ground and looked like a pile of burned plastic bags. Link was amazed at this. Link liked what that attack did to them and swung his sword at the other two Magnatroids, turning them both into smoldering piles of dehydrated gel. When all three Magnatroids were down, one thought crossed Link's mind.

"Fox, how'd you know?" Link asked, stunned somewhat.

"A little something I learned in science. A jellyfish is ninety percent water and it will die if it's heated. This however, was only a theory on these guys." Fox answered in a scientific way.

"I knew that." Link said, sheepishly.

"Of course you did, Link." Fox said as he walked away.

"C'mon, boys! We can talk science class later! We've got to find Ridley before he gets away." Samus ordered.

"But how will we stay on the planet? There's no oxygen on there. We'd SUFFOCATE!" Link said, repeating Fox's words.

Samus went to a corner of a room, opened up a kind of closet, and pulled out a pair of transparent, green suits. She then handed them to Fox and Link.

"Here are some spare space suits. Put these on and we'll be on our way." She informed as she began to leave.

Fox and Link just stood there, gaping at what they just saw. The Samus they knew was normally a nice person, but now she was about as determined and strict as a drill sergeant. Before long, Samus' spaceship and the Arwing II were off for the barren wasteland to find the next sage and Ridley.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: The ultimate weapon**

The Arwing II landed on the bright orange planet at the same time as a large, orange spaceship. When they touched down, Fox and Link stepped out and landed. Both of them were in see-through suits that fit their bodies perfectly. The best thing was that they would still be able to use their weapons.

Fox took out his staff and a silver light burst out of it. The map of the planet appeared and showed where they were and where the Metal Shrine was.

"Well, Link, now's the time. Let's get going." Fox ordered.

Samus stepped out and examined the map the staff made. She put her finger on the dot and then on the shrine. After a quick thought, she pointed in the direction to go.

"This way, boys." She said before trekking off.

Fox and Link looked at each other.

"Well, if she knows the planet this well, we might as well do as she says." Link informed.

"As much as I hate to say it, I agree with ya." Fox replied as the followed her.

It took them many hours of travel and foot sores, but eventually, they came to something good. The metal shrine wasn't like all the others. It wasn't a large palace or castle, it was more like a base you find in sci-fi movies. It was round, spherical, and had many antennae coming out of it. There was one door, but that was all. No windows, no secret doors, no nothing.

"Well, at least we know it's not difficult to spot." Samus commented, following up with a quick laugh.

"Uhh, yeah." Fox said, catching up on her joke.

The door wasn't bolted shut and had a simple code lock that looked really old. Samus wasn't too worried as she contemptuously put up her arm cannon and fired three times. On the third blast, the door fell down with a loud CLANG and all three of them went inside and looked around. It looked similar to the abandoned space station they had escaped from and had atmosphere just as good. Samus looked around and then her foot went through a laser tripwire. A large gun popped out of the wall and aimed at Samus. Fox saw it and quickly dove for her, tackling her to the ground and causing the blaster to narrowly miss both of them. Fox took out his staff, aimed, and blasted the gun with a blast of red energy. The detector gun went up in flames and fell to the ground, shattering on impact. Samus, still somewhat stunned at this, let Fox help her to her feet, she blushed a bit, though you couldn't see it under her helmet.

"Thanks." She finally said.

"Keep your eyes open, Samus. I won't protect you all the time." Fox warned.

Fox took one step back and his tail passed through a suspended laser tripwire. A machine gun popped out of the ceiling and fired at Fox, who began to move like a dancer to avoid the bullets. A minute later, it was up in smoke and Fox looked at Samus to see the barrel of her gun smoking.

"Keep your eyes open, Fox. I won't protect you all the time." Samus commented with a grin.

The two decided to talk this over later. Now, they had to get moving.

Fox, Link, and Samus wandered through the hallways and avoided any tripwires they came across. Just then, there was a room with tripwires crisscrossing everywhere so much, it looked like a light show. Link smacked himself in the forehead and Fox's face fell in disbelief.

"Oh, COME ON!" Fox thought out loud.

Fox put his leg over one of the lasers and slowly made his way through the trap. He would move an arm here, duck there, and even do a bit of limbo. He continued the process until he reached the other side and leaned over to gather his bearings a bit.

"Whew!" He said as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

Samus put a hand on her hip and clicked her tongue. She then crouched and turned into a kind of sphere that went under all the tripwires and stopped at Fox's feet. Fox stepped back as Samus returned to her normal form in front of him.

"Wow, can you teach me to do that?" Link asked hopefully.

"Sure. If I can wait about five years." Samus answered.

"Alright, alright. Just hang on a second." Link said hastily.

Link put up the mirror shield and put it in front of the lasers. The lasers rebounded and Link slowly walked through, carefully watching his step. He couldn't exactly afford to take a step too high or the security around here would notice him. When all three of them were on the other side, they set off again.

There was a great, wide space that Link guessed was the middle of the shrine, but there were no tripwires and no booby traps whatsoever. Link and Fox headed for the middle of the room, but they were cut short because a blaster bolt shot from the ceiling. Fox and Link leapt back in surprise while Samus stood transfixed at something on the ceiling.

"What? More traps?" Fox asked.

Then, Fox noticed that Link and Samus were looking up. Fox looked up and saw a familiar cyborg looking down on them with a gun on his right forearm. He had missed, but barely, and looked in a very murderous mood, even though he didn't have a face.

"You survived my magnatroids?" Ridley asked.

If the metal dragon had a proper emotion movement, he would have been sneering in disgust and scowling in a frustrated tone. Ridley dropped from and then caught some air in his wings, making them act something like parachutes. The alien reptile was hovering close to the ground and his arms were starting to behave differently, but that was expected, seeing as he was part-machine. A plate in his left arm opened up, revealing a machine gun and the other arm's old gun disappeared inside the armor making way for a long gun with a large ammo holder. Fox's best guess was that this was a flamethrower. Ridley's tail also arched like a scorpion's revealing a long arrowhead as long as a light bulb and as sharp as a sword.

"Attack if you must." Ridley dared, his orange eyes narrowing.

Link was the first to make a move, he launched forward with his sword out. However, Ridley's tail came up to meet him and parried the attack, letting him get his machine gun in close. Link rolled just when Ridley started firing and Red bolts fired everywhere, scorching part of the ground that Link was on just seconds ago. But when Link momentarily retreated, Fox came to meet him to try his luck and began to spin his staff very quickly. A gust of wind came from the staff's spinning and began to blow Ridley away, but the iron dragon stomped on the ground, digging his talons into the metal flooring. Ridley slowly made his way through the gust and pounded Fox in the abdomen with a metal fist. Fox fell to the floor and rolled just before a taloned foot came smashing down, nearly impaling him. Ridley almost tried again, but something shot him in the back and he whirled to see Samus firing with her blaster. Ridley put out his right arm and the gun belched out flame that torched her almost beyond her armor's limits. He almost did that when electricity flowed through his body and he spun to meet Link. The hero of time had used his lightning sword to get Ridley and the metal dragon wasn't electric-proof. Ridley ran up to Link, did something like a handstand, and caught Link with his feet before throwing him backwards with similar precision as a football player. He then finished the combination by righting himself.

"This is TOO EASY!" Ridley snarled in pride.

Ridley thundered toward Samus like a t-rex after a small dinosaur and leapt into the air. Samus quickly pointed her gun to the right and fired. Ridley's right wing exploded and he fell to the ground. He had wanted to fly, but the sudden loss of his wing caused him to lose his balance. The iron dragon quickly fell on his front and landed on his arms and legs. He somersaulted to his feet to meet Link head-on and catch the hylian with a sweep kick. Link leapt up and Ridley was one step ahead of him as he spun and backhanded Link's shield. The impact didn't hurt Link, but it did send him flying a few feet. Before long, Fox was in the battle, staff drawn. Ridley was about to use his machine gun again when it exploded. Ridley's catlike eyes fell on Samus and he opened his metal jaws and out came a laser blast. Samus jumped away and fired again, but this time, the flamethrower erupted into a fiery blossom. Ridley, raging mad, leapt across the room and pounded a metal fist into her helmeted head. Samus fell to the floor and Ridley continued to punch Samus across her helmet. Samus was lucky; without that helmet, her skull would have been crushed under the sheer force.

Ridley was about to punch Samus again when Fox came out of nowhere and landed behind him, putting his staff around Ridley's neck. Ridley looked up and put his clawed hand on Fox's weapon. Twice, he struck with his tail, but Fox had his boot on it and it couldn't move. Link then took his sword, rushed over to Ridley and dug his sword deep into the space pirate's chest plate just when Ridley shook Fox off. At first, Ridley was surprised and cocked one of his organic eyebrows.

"What was THAT supposed to do?" He asked with a snigger.

Link smiled as he answered in just one word, one syllable and one sentence.

"THIS!"

Link sent electricity through his sword and zapped Ridley as though lightning had just struck the sword. Normally, Ridley's armor would have absorbed the flow, but since the sword penetrated it, the armor couldn't block the flow. Sparks flew out of Ridley's metal eye sockets as he screeched in pain. His arms flailed and his legs jerked as well as his jaw causing Link to jump back, with his sword still in Ridley's body. The metal dragon turned black and like Scales and Black Doom, he disintegrated into black mist. When there was nothing left of Ridley, Link's sword clanged to the ground. Fox went over to Samus and checked her breathing and pulse.

"She's unconscious, but she should be okay. Now…" Fox said as he took out his staff. "Let's find out who the metal sage is."

In the middle of the room were the usual slots. Fox placed his staff and Link placed his sword. There was a flash of silver light and they were in the realm of dimensions. The silver spiral shone brightly and out came Samus.

"Well, THAT'S a bit of a surprise." Fox said sarcastically.

"It's better than Ridley, isn't it?" Samus joked. "And By the way, I don't think you'll be needing your space suits when you get ready to leave. Now that I've awakened as a sage, the curse on this planet is lifted."

Link smiled and then asked, "Don't you have a little something for us?"

Samus thought for a while and said, "Nope."

Link's jaw dropped as he shouted, "WHAT?!"

Samus laughed.

"I'm just kidding! Here." Samus said as she raised her hands.

A flash of silver light touched Link and Link felt magic flow through him.

"This spell will allow you to use magnetism. Just point your sword at any metal object and it will move according to your will." Samus told him.

"I have a feeling that that's going to come in handy later on." Fox said as he scratched his chin.

A flash of light and Samus' last sentence was, "Say 'Hello' to Zelda for me, Link."

When Fox and Link arrived at the Arwing II, the planet was no longer orange and barren, it was lush and green with vegetation. Fox stepped out of his space suit and took a deep breath.

"It's okay, Link. The air's okay now that plants are growing here." Fox informed.

"There's something fishy here. If there were traps in the shrine, that only proves Allos is getting smarter." Link thought to himself.

Without further ado, Link took off his space suit and hopped into the spaceship. They took off and found the dimension ring outside the space station. They attached and were off looking for the next sage.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Kremlingsaurs**

Link and Fox's ship came to a planet and landed on an island that looked like someone they knew. Link looked at the massive rock on the isle and turned to Fox.

"Three guesses of who lives on this island and the first two don't count." Link said.

"I already know." Fox replied.

Then, they both answered at the same time.

"Donkey Kong."

The rock formation looked almost exactly like Donkey Kong's head. The same curly-cue, the same thick eyebrows, and the same facial features. However, there was a threat here just like the last one.

More than eight miles away, there was a great galleon out to sea. The whole thing was crawling with crocodile-like creatures. They had reptilian looks, but they stood upright like a human. Each one was clad in black jackets with a skull and crossbones, only the skull wasn't a human's but an alligator's. They were none other than the Kremlings: The self-proclaimed enemies of Donkey Kong and friends. One was in a bit of a hurry and raced to the main hull. In there was a big, fat Kremling with a scarlet cape and a golden crown.

"King K. Rool, your majesty, there's someone who wants to see you!" The Kremling said in a very rushed voice.

King K. Rool turned to reveal golden armor on his chest and stomach with golden cuffs on his wrists and ankles too boot. The strange thing about him was that, while one eye was average-sized and completely normal, the other was large and bloodshot.

"What is it, you buffoon?" K. Rool asked.

"I'm not a baboon, I'm a crocodile and you KNOW IT!" The Kremling shot back.

King K. Rool smacked himself in the forehead and said, "Bring him in, stupid."

The Kremling raced off and brought in none other than Allos. King K. Rool sat down on a chair designed for him and looked him over.

"You're not from around here. Are ya' stranger?" He asked in suspicion.

"I'm just your everyday bounty hunter, that's all." Allos answered coolly with his arms folded across his chest.

King K. Rool cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Really? Well, then, I suppose you can't catch this guy?"

He then held up a photo of a big ape with a red necktie. Allos looked it over and nodded.

"You mean he's the mascot of that island? I bet I can catch him. On one condition: you let me use your troops." Allos suggested.

"It's a deal. I'll give you my best troops over DK's defeat any day." K. Rool said as he shook Allos' hand.

King K. Rool let out a shrill whistle and three Kremlings came into the room. One was your average one with green skin and the jacket. One was big, fat, and pink with an army hat and a grenade belt. The final one was big, blue, and about as muscular as a bodybuilder. The green one was known Kritter, the pink one was Klump, and the blue one was Krusha. Allos smirked as he looked them over like a drill sergeant.

"I bet I can make them stronger." Allos said with sheer confidence.

K. Rool snorted and then challenged, "Prove it."

Allos smirked as he whipped out a gun and shot three darts at them; one dart for each. They yelped in pain and yanked them out, fussing.

"HEY! I asked you to make them stronger, not try to KILL THEM!" K. Rool scolded.

"Don't worry, sir. This is where the fun begins." Allos said, patiently.

Then, in front of K. Rool's eyes, the Kremlings began changing and growing. Their bones molded and their muscle mass increased to make way for powerful heads and arms. Spikes came from a few backs and a few got enlarged teeth and jaw muscles.

"Whoa. I guess I underestimated you, bub." King K. Rool said, wide-eyed.

Allos turned to K. Rool, smiled a joking smile, and then said, "You did more than that, pal."

K. Rool then went for the steering wheel of the galleon and took the ship over to Donkey Kong Island. When they landed ashore, all three of the new Kremlings leapt out and sprinted into the jungle.

"You sure they know who they're lookin' for?" K. Rool asked, turning to Allos.

"Of course. Now that they've had some medicine from those darts, there's nothing they can't track." Allos said, his chest puffed out slightly.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: How I wish I were King Kong**

Fox and Link arrived on the island and were soon on the unfamiliar ground of the great unknown. Before they took off for the jungle, Fox took out his staff and showed the map of the island. The glow was the color of copper and gave the symbol of the sage they had to awaken.

"Looks like we have to find the Earth Sage here." Link said as he analyzed the symbol.

"Well, let's get going. We've got no time to lose." Fox said as he sprinted away.

Fox and Link raced through the undergrowth like a pair of gazelles, looking for their old friend Donkey Kong.

"MAN!" Fox shouted out loud, "The only person who could hang here is Tarzan!"

"Who's Tarzan?" Link asked as they ran.

"Never mind." Fox said.

Just then, they heard rustling through the bushes and undergrowth and whirled around to the source of the noise. Just as suddenly as it had been made, the sound was gone and the undergrowth stopped moving. Sweat began to trickle down both of their faces as Fox put his staff forward and Link fingered his sword.

"Donkey Kong?" Fox asked into the nothingness.

The only answer he got was a loud roar/growl. Then, without warning, a huge dinosaur-guy smashed through the undergrowth and snapped at Fox with its mighty jaws. Fox narrowly avoided getting chomped in two before he regained his footing and inspected the creature. The beast had blue skin, yellow spines down its back, and torn camouflage clothing. It also had muscular arms, a thick neck, and a massive T-rex head with teeth to boot.

"Oh no! Allos got here first!" Link shouted the minute he saw the rex in this thing.

Fox began to back away slowly when another snarl came out. As he turned around, he saw a big pink dinosaur-thing with a row of spinal plates. Its head was small, but it had a long tail with four spikes near its tip. This thing got mixed with a stegosaurus and he didn't look too friendly. Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, there came a big green one with croc jaws and a fin down its back. K-rex (That's what we'll call him) eyed Link with big, red eyeballs and opened its mouth to snap his arm off.

It didn't happen. Link opened his eyes to see that he was swinging through the trees with someone holding onto him. As he looked up, he saw the familiar tie of…

"Donkey Kong!" He shouted in relief.

DK gave the thumbs' up and said, "No problem."

Just then, Link realized something.

"Wait! Where's Fox?" He shouted in angst.

"Don't worry. Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong got 'em." DK said while gesturing behind him.

Fox was being held by a monkey with a shirt and hat and a chimpanzee with a ponytail. The monkey was holding on with his tail while the chimp was holding him with her hair. Link was surprised that the little monkeys were doing it. Just then, Link felt a rushing experience and realized that DK had just leapt from the vine all the way to another tree.

"Don't worry. We're safe from those…things." DK assured.

After many minutes, they had reached a secluded part of the jungle and were at some kind of house.

"Guys, there's someone I want you to meet." DK said as he led them inside with Diddy and Dixie close behind. "It's okay. He won't bite." Diddy Kong assured, spotting the worried looks on Fox and Link's faces.

The inside of the house had incense burning and bamboo shoots growing from pots. Right in the center of the room was a rather old monkey with a long beard. (NOT Cranky Kong)

"Link, Fox, meet Sensei Kong." DK said as he bowed to the elder.

"I have heard great deals about you two. Any friend of Donkey Kong is a friend of mine." Sensei Kong greeted.

"Hello, Sensei. It's a pleasure to meet you." Link said as he bowed in respect.

Fox, wanting to save Hyrule from certain destruction, decided to change the subject.

"Sir, could you tell us where we can find the Earth Shrine?" He asked, hopefully.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that." Sensei said sternly.

Fox and Link were too flabbergasted for words. They had come this far, and now the only information wasn't even going to tell them a single word.

"I will only tell you when you help our island. Lately, we have been attacked by a group of dinosaur things and we need help. We cannot do this alone." He said, spotting Fox and Link's angered expressions.

"Those things aren't like the dinosaurs we faced before. They're intelligent beings and we…" Fox began, but Sensei Kong cut him off.

"You beat Concolor, didn't you? DK said that since chaos didn't come to our universe, Concolor was stopped. Is that true?" Sensei asked.

Both Link and Fox nodded.

"Good. Now, all you have to…" The wise monkey began.

Suddenly, something smashed through the walls of the house and let out a roar. It was the K-rex and his buddies from the jungle again. Sensei Kong immediately leapt out of the way before a massive foot came down on him. The K-rex let out a roar and went for Sensei Kong again, but it didn't come close because Donkey Kong slammed into it.

"You want Sensei? Come and get him!" DK challenged.

The K-rex roared again, revealing all eighty of its teeth. DK was about to charge when something exploded from the other side of the house. It was the Spino-Kritter again and he clamped his crocodilian jaws on DK's right arm. DK howled in pain as he took his free arm and flung the Spino off him. Just then, the Stego-Klump appeared and swung its tail at DK, who ducked just in time for the tail to swipe thin air. The Spino-Kritter came for DK again, but Fox had sprung forward and planted his foot into its jaw. The crocodilian thing staggered sideways and roared at Fox as it pursued the clever pilot. The Stego-Klump popped its knuckles and headed for DK, but Link got in front of him.

"Going somewhere?" Link asked as he pointed his sword at the dinosaur like an accusing finger.

The Stego-Klump snorted and charged Link, tail raised like a whip to flog a prisoner. Link rolled between the Stego's legs and ducked quickly to avoid the tail, which was coming up to meet him. The tail came back around and Link made an upward slash which severed one of the spikes. The Stego grunted in surprise and blinked stupidly at its missing spike. Its temper then rose and began trying to stomp on Link. Link rolled here and sidestepped there, narrowly avoiding the combined attacks.

Fox was fighting the Spino-Kritter with his staff and appeared to be having the advantage, but then the Spino's tail came to meet him. It caught him across the midsection and sent him flying backwards. Fox flipped to his feet and struck the Spino across the face with his staff again. However, the second try wasn't too successful. Fox swung it, but couldn't get it back, because the Spino clamped its jaws on the staff and was shaking it like a dog with a chew toy. By the time Fox could move again, the Spino had already shaken the staff free of his grip. It went flying through the air, but amazingly, Sensei Kong flipped through the air with the agility of a dancer and caught it. He then flipped to Fox's enemy and smashed it on the back, tearing the skin on the fin. The Spino turned around and Fox kicked it in the leg, causing it to turn in surprise, but Sensei Kong simply struck again. This fighting strategy was a good one, and when it ended, the Spino was exhausted.

Donkey Kong had tackled the K-rex again and was riding it like a bucking bronco, but the K-rex shook him off and took its shot at DK, trying to bite him again. DK spun around to avoid the big guy's chomp and ended up backhanding the rex in the process. The rex roared and countered with a punch of his own that bruised DK's shoulder, but DK shrugged it off. DK grabbed the K-rex's tail and swung it into a tree, bending the tree so far that it almost broke. The battle was slowly leading them out of the house and into the nearby jungle.

Link's Stego problem was still going on seeing as he had to parry spikes, roll from punches, and flip away from stomps. He came up and made a horizontal slash that put a gash in the Stego's chest. Link moved again to avoid the tail, but a fist was there to meet him. Instead of punching Link, the hand ended up grabbing him by the sword. Link smirked as he sent a small jolt of lightning through his blade, causing the Stego to drop Link and clutch its hand in pain. Link then saw a metal shield hanging from the wall and remembered something that Samus gave him. He pointed his sword at the emblem and a small beam shot out of it. The silvery beam seemed to lift the metal shield and with a flick of his sword, Link flung the metal shield at the Stego's small head. The Stego didn't see it coming and ended up with a black eye, staggered, moved forward three steps, and fell with a crash.

DK was battling the K-rex through the jungle, and the blows they exchanged seemed to quake the earth itself. The ape pounded the dinosaur's massive head with his fist only to be kicked off by its mighty legs. DK rolled as he hit the ground, as his strategy was to keep moving so his opponent couldn't catch him for a fatal blow. The K-rex snarled as it opened its mouth but DK used his foot as a spare hand and caught the rex on the nose. He drug it closer and punched it square in the jaw. The K-rex shook its head in pain, roared, and went for DK again, but DK leapt into a tree and attempted to land on the rex's back. However, the K-rex saw it coming and moved forward just when DK jumped. DK was NOT expecting that and ended up rolling through the floor. He tried to get up, but a massive foot pinned him to the ground. It opened its massive mouth to bite DK's head off, but yelped in pain as something penetrated its thick hide. It was a small dart and slowly, its head shrunk, and its bulk decreased until it returned to being Krusha.

"Uh oh." The Krusha said as he slowly turned around.

Fox had a gun pointing at the Kremling, which had the darts with the antidote to the dinosaur DNA. Right beside him were Link and Sensei Kong, all with grins on their faces.

"Uh, Heheheh…" The Krusha sniggered nervously.

Then, the blue reptile ran off, closely followed by Kritter and Klump, who were also returned to normal.

"Your deed is done, Sensei. Will you tell us where to find the Earth Temple now?" Fox asked.

Sensei bowed and said, "I am true to my word. You will find it at the top of the mountain."

"Thanks." Link called as they left.

While Link and Fox were gone, everyone was pitching in to help repair Sensei Kong's 'massacre'. However, this was easier said than done seeing as the whole house was made of bamboo shoots. DK had to work overtime and he was strong, but the job still got done.

"Sensei, pardon the question, but how do you know where the Earth Shrine is?" DK asked, but Sensei vanished before he could answer.

DK got the wits scared out of him, seeing as Sensei simply vanished into thin air. DK looked around wildly for the old monkey, but nothing. A minute after the incident, Fox and Link were back.

"Good news, DK. Sensei Kong is the Earth Sage." Fox told him.

"Oh. THAT explains why he knew about the Earth Shrine and why he vanished. I always knew he was full of surprises." DK said with sudden realization.

"So did I; especially after he beat those dinosaurs. He gave me this attack, too." Link added.

The hylian hero planted the tip of his sword into the ground and a small tremor went through the house. The sheer force of the quake knocked off a few plates, shattering them and also caused the whole house to shake uncontrollably.

"Uh, yeah, so I noticed. I guess this is where we gotta go our separate ways. Hope to see ya' soon." DK said with a smile.

In a matter of minutes, Fox and Link were back in the Arwing II and were going through the dimensions faster than lightspeed.

Back at the galleon, the Kremlings had just gotten back and K. Rool was FURIOUS. King K. Rool was mad for one HECK of a reason and was almost tempted to squash his messenger flat like a pancake.

"CURED?! LIKE THAT?! KLAPTRAP!!!" King K. Rool barked before booting his messenger off the ship.

A small Crocodile with a BIG mouthful of teeth raced in, scared.

"Y-yes, your fatesty? Er, I mean Your Majesty?" He asked, timidly.

"Find Allos, NOW! I need more dinosaur DNA!" He ordered.

"Well, boss, it's funny you should say that. You see, let's pretend a king made a new friend who, uh, helped him out and that friend, well…vanished." He said weakly.

"ALLOS IS GONE?!" K. Rool barked.

"How did you guess?" The Klaptrap asked fearfully.

King K. Rool's eyes were bugging out with rage and he was grinding his conical teeth together. You could even see a muscle twitch in his jaw.

"KLAPTRAP!!!!" K. Rool shouted at the top of his lungs.

Meanwhile, back on the Drache IV, Allos was on his way through space. Though Link and Fox beat him to the sage, he was satisfied even when they followed him.

"Everything is going according to plan. Soon, Ganon will live again!" He said as he began to laugh maniacally.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: Too much for you to bear**

The Arwing II came into range of another Earth-like planet and came across a great sea. As they soared over the ocean, Link could see dolphins jumping out of the water, spinning like a top while they did so.

"Nice view, huh?" Fox asked.

"I haven't really seen the sea before. Well, only once and that was a LONG time ago." Link reminded.

Suddenly, something zoomed past them and Fox instantly recognized the dragon-like shape and the size of the ship.

"It's Allos! Link, fasten your seatbelt." Fox warned.

Link knew what was coming and buckled it just before Fox hit the thrust. In a matter of seconds, they had already caught up to their ship in another dogfight. Fox and Link were outmaneuvering Allos move for move, but when Allos saw that they wouldn't take a hint, he pressed a button on his dashboard. The thrusters on his ship went back inside his ship and were replaced with propellers. As Fox watched, Allos' ship vanished under the ocean's surface: beyond the Arwing II's reach. Fox pounded his dashboard in anger.

"BLAST!" Fox growled.

The minute Allos was out of sight, everything seemed to slow down.

"So we lost him. We still have to get the next sage before Dino-boy gets it." Link said, trying to calm Fox down.

"Right. Let's go." Fox said, somewhat ashamed of what happened.

The Arwing II flew and flew until it came across an island shaped like a witch's head. He flew up and landed it in the middle of a peaceful spot. It was just outside a little village and it looked like something from a fairy tale.

"This is pretty nice." Link said as he looked around.

Fox took out his staff, which glowed bright green. A map of the whole island appeared and the symbol was one Link recognized. It was a familiar spiral shape that he had seen on everything from the Kokiri Shield to the doors of the Forest Temple.

"Looks like we're after the Wood Sage…" Link began, but then he heard something.

He looked to his right and saw a little head poking out. It had red feathers with a bit of plumage on top and a bright yellow beak. It also appeared to be staring at Link with bright, green eyes.

"Hey, Fox, I think I found something." Link called.

The little bird head popped back into the bushes, but Link already knew where it was. When Fox went over, Link pointed at the spot to point out where he found it. Fox slowly took out his staff and sharply prodded the spot.

"Ouch! Whatcha' do that for?" A voice asked.

This voice was deep and somewhat goofy. It wasn't what Link expected from a little bird, but he soon saw the reason.

Out of the bushes rose a bear tall enough to look Fox in the eye. This bear had yellow shorts and a bright blue backpack as well as a big round nose and blue eyes. As both Fox and Link stared at it, the bear cocked an eyebrow and shrugged.

"What are you staring at? You guys are the strangers here." It asked in a more annoyed tone.

"We were looking for a bird we saw around here. We thought it might be of help." Link answered nervously.

"Bird? You mean like…" The bear said as he pulled the same bird from his backpack, "THIS?"

It was the same bird, but it was struggling against the bear's paws, seeing as the bear's fingers were wrapped around its long neck.

"Banjo! Let me go!" It strained as it put its wings on the bear's fingers, trying to pull them off.

From the sound of the voice, both Fox and Link guessed that this bird was a girl.

"What're you staring at, Two stooges?" It snapped.

Fox flinched at the comment, but Link reacted almost instantly. He rushed over to the bird until he was close enough to touch its beak with its nose.

"Who're you calling the Two stooges, you red-feathered turkey?" Link snapped back.

"Oh, don't mind Kazooie. She's always like that." Banjo apologized.

"Oh, no harm done. Link just wants ring her neck, that's all." Fox growled sarcastically.

"Bear and Bird! Where firewood?! Humba and Mumbo won't wait all day!" A voice called.

Link and Fox turned to see a short guy with a skull mask on his face. He had a loincloth and three feathers on his head. He also had a stick with a smaller skull on it. Then, the guy saw them and he would have been seen cocking an eyebrow if that skull wasn't in the way.

"Who are elf and fox?" The thing asked.

"Um, I'm Link and this is Fox McCloud. We're here to explore the island and we don't want trouble." Link explained.

The thing bowed and said, "Greetings. I Mumbo Jumbo and I friends with bear and bird. We on camping trip. Do elf and fox need rest?" The little man asked.

Fox and Link turned to each other, then back to Mumbo.

"Sure." They said at the same time.

Mumbo bowed and said, "Mumbo honored. This way, elf and fox."

"At least he got MY name right." Fox told Link, quickly.

Miles away, Allos already had a trap set for our heroes. He had just given a buzz to his closest friends and set them on the island, but not before injecting them with dinosaur DNA.

"It doesn't matter if they find the Wood Sage. They're playing right into my hands. And by the time they find out, it will be too late." Allos thought to himself.

After that, he also went to the island via his jetpack and kept an eye on his troops with radar.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Found out**

Link, Fox, Banjo, and Kazooie followed Mumbo to a kind of wigwam with an Indian woman waiting for them. There was a roaring fire and the woman appeared to have been kept waiting for them.

"Where has Mumbo been?" She asked impatiently.

"Mumbo find elf and fox nearby. They looking for something, Wumba." Mumbo answered.

Wumba looked puzzled and stared at the two.

"What fox and elf looking for?" She asked.

"First off, my name is Link. And second, we're looking for something called the Wood Shrine. Do any of you know where it is?" Link said in an annoyed tone.

Banjo shrugged, Kazooie shook her head, and Mumbo scratched his head. They had no clue whatsoever. But strangely, Wumba spoke up.

"I believe shrine is in Click Clock Wood. It on top of the big tree." Wumba answered.

"Well, can you tell us where it is?" Fox asked.

Mumbo raised his hand and answered, "Shortcut to Click Clock Wood in Witch's lair."

Mumbo pointed to a rock formation that looked like a witch's head. When Fox and Link saw it, they couldn't help but stare at it.

"Whoever built that must've been so full of herself." Fox thought out loud.

"I know. She really was full of herself." Banjo commented.

But before Banjo could tell them anything else, something leapt out of the undergrowth and attacked Link and Fox with a loud screech.

Fox hit the dirt and Link leapt to the side to dodge a kind of dinosaur. It had the build of a raptor, but it was twice the size of those Jurassic Park raptors. It also had three horns similar to a Triceratops and was a little more bulky than the raptors they faced before. The attacking dinosaur let out a screech and began to circle both of them like a shark.

"Oh no." Fox said, his eyes wide open.

The raptor sprang right into the gap between the two and Link attacked. He unleashed his fire sword attack, but the raptor simply jumped over it and Fox had to duck in order to dodge it. Fox took his turn and sprang at the raptor, he was about to bring the staff down onto its head when it moved and he had to pull back in order to keep himself from accidentally striking Link. This thing was smart; Allos' work judging by that strategy. The raptor was keeping in between them for quite a good reason because as long as he stayed between the two, they couldn't attack without extreme caution. And if this kept up, it was like the raptor was fighting them in turn rather than at the same time.

"No wonder Allos is taking advantage of us. His troops are getting smarter." Fox said as he inspected this thing's strategy.

Link popped the tip of his blade into the ground and sent a tremor through the ground. It shook the raptor, but it knocked Fox right off his feet. Link winced as he saw what happened, but he did it for half a second too long. The raptor took its three claws and raked Link's face, leaving three huge gashes going from the corner of Link's left eye to the bottom left side of his jawbone. In another movement, the raptor tripped Link with its tail.

The raptor was about to kill Link, but he had forgotten one person: Fox. Fox had leapt into the air, but the tail came up to meet him. Fox ended up with the wind knocked out of him and when he landed, he felt two things tuck themselves under his arms and chuck him like an ox with a log. Fox flew through the air and landed with a thud, out cold. This raptor had tucked its horns under Fox and heaved him with one movement of its neck. The raptor turned to Link, with the EVIL EYE and opened its mouthful of knifelike teeth. Could this be the end?

The Raptor was about to dig its teeth into Link's neck when something collided with the side of the raptor's face and the dinosaur turned to see who would do such a thing. Banjo had Kazooie clutched in his paws and cocked her neck like you would load a gun. Mumbo had his stick and was patting it like it was some kind of club. The raptor snarled, which seemed to say, "You're going to wish you hadn't done that."

"I so enjoy these times of peril!" Kazooie said in a very intense voice.

The raptor leapt into the air and almost landed on Banjo and Kazooie. The pair rolled under the raptor's feet and shot another egg. This one, however, was red. And when it touched the raptor's body, it burned like acid. The raptor turned and snarled before leaping again. This time, something purple shot him in the side and he fell through the air. Mumbo had shot a spell at the monster and the raptor regained its balance.

The raptor was in trouble. Its strategy only worked if it kept in between his opponents. The problem was, its new opponents were always moving and remained in front of it. In a last-ditch effort, he leapt at Banjo and Kazooie. Kazooie fired a kind of green egg and instead of splattering, it EXPLODED in the dinosaur's face. The raptor fell to the ground, not moving a muscle and smoking. It was dead.

Banjo helped Link to his feet and gave him a few bandages for his face. Link pressed them hard to his face and he could feel the blood on his hand.

"What was that thing?" Banjo asked.

"One of Allos' minions. He knows we're here. We gotta get moving NOW!" Link commanded.

Banjo reached into his backpack and pulled Kazooie out. He then took his pack and stuffed Fox into it. Strangely, the pack didn't increase in size and it seemed that Fox was just put into a kind of vortex. Mumbo packed up a few food supplies along with Wumba and they all headed off for the witch's lair. They didn't have much time before Allos tracked them to Spiral Mountain.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Going up**

It took a while, but they finally decided who should go with a coin flip. Mumbo got the right guess, so he had to go while Wumba had to remain behind. Without further ado, all of them entered the lair. By the time they had gone very deep in the lair, Fox had regained consciousness and started moving around in the blue backpack. Banjo felt it and immediately took his pack off and whipped Fox out.

"That was a weird experience…" Fox said, his head spinning.

"Everyone who's been in there says that." Banjo said, shaking his head in disbelief.

After wandering through the witch's lair for what seemed like an eternity, Banjo and Kazooie saw a doorway with a huge sign over it. The sign had the words "Click Clock Wood" and Fox and Link were just too stupefied.

"This is just too easy." Link said, almost laughing.

"Sure it may look that way. But I'll bet Allos has sent his cronies after us and they're probably waiting to ambush us." Fox warned in a hushed tone.

They then went through the door and the world revealed itself.

Click Clock wood was a huge forest with one huge tree in the center. Fox almost broke his neck trying to see the top and had to put his vertebrae back into place. The tree must've gone up for miles and had leaves that could have supported his weight if he stepped on it.

"Wow. I've always wondered what was at the top of that tree." Kazooie said in awe.

"Hard to believe there's a shrine up on there." Banjo added.

"What do we do? Climb it?" Link asked.

"No. We fly, that how." Mumbo answered.

"Fly? How are we going to do that without a spaceship or wings?" Fox asked.

Just then, Fox felt a pair of arms go under his own and felt like he was lifted off the ground. As he looked up, Banjo was flying with Kazooie coming out of his backpack and carrying both of them.

"What about me?" Link asked in frustration.

Just then, he felt magical energy flowing around him and there was something like a clap of thunder. In another instant, he looked in a puddle and saw that he had been turned into a bumblebee. Link nearly fell backwards in shock and Mumbo laughed.

"Bear did exact same thing when he turn into bee. Now elf can fly and shoot stingers at bad guy." Mumbo explained.

Link frowned and said, "Oh well. It's better than nothing."

Link leapt into the air and took off with a buzz, off to find the Wood shrine.

The four of them had barely gone halfway up the tree when there was a loud screech. In another instant, something flew at Banjo and actually removed the backpack. In a fashion similar to those cartoons, Banjo's body went down, leaving his neck and head to turn to the camera before it went down too (like one of those Looney Toons cartoons). Fortunately, there were large leaves that they could stand on, but they looked rather brittle, being autumn. They wouldn't last long.

Kazooie didn't know what hit her and she quickly exited the backpack. The thing that attacked her was a raptor; a lot like the previous one with the horns. However, this one had a long beak that actually had teeth inside. It had wings like a pterosaur and talons like an eagle, complete with the deadly sickle claw. The flying dinosaur saw that the pack was empty and dropped it all the way to the bottom, choosing to go for Kazooie instead. It made a wide turn and pelted toward Kazooie for a full-on assault. Kazooie barely moved aside and felt one of the talons rake her wing. Five red feathers fell to the ground and Mumbo happened to see one, causing him to look up worriedly.

"This bad." Was all he could say.

Link saw the dinosaur assaulting Kazooie and quickly headed off to help her. However, another screech sounded and there was another pteraptor. Link's eyes widened with shock and he quickly spun in midair to dodge. The raptor missed and Link was about to attack when he heard two voices calling for help.

The voices were Fox and Banjo, who were holding on for dear life on a leaf that was full to breaking. Link forgot about the raptor and made a great dive at the leaf. The leaf loosened the closer he got and just when Fox seized Link's insect foot, the leaf broke. Banjo quickly grabbed the closest thing he could find: Fox's boot. The boot nearly came off his foot, but Fox was holding onto it by pulling it up with his foot.

"You really need to lay off the honey, Banjo!" Fox called down to him.

Banjo shrugged as he said, "I can't help it. I'm a bear!"

Meanwhile, Kazooie was in a dogfight with two pteraptors and they were flying like falcons after a pigeon during World War II. When Kazooie pulled out of a spin to evade one attacker, she had to do it again to dodge the other one. She couldn't pause for one second or she'd be ripped to shreds. Just then, a pteraptor got in front of her and she couldn't stop in time. Instead of plunging to the ground, Kazooie saw something bash into it. Banjo had leapt down from Fox's foot and landed on top of the raptor. He was now jerking its wings all over the place, causing the dinosaur to fly out of control.

"Ride 'em, cowboy! YEE-HAW!!" Banjo said as the dinosaur tried to buck him off.

Kazooie was cheering Banjo on, when the other one tried another chance at her. She did a somersault in the air and ended up right behind it. However, the pteraptor pulled to a halt and its wing was in Kazooie's way. Result: She collided with it and they seemed to tumble through the air. When they got untangled, the pteraptor let out a snarl and tried to assault Kazooie again. This time, something raced through the air like a bullet and got the raptor in the side. Another one caught it in the face, and another and another. The raptor grunted in pain as it tried flying away, but these stingers were abnormally precise. Link, in his bee mode was shooting stingers out of his mouth and attacking the raptor. With one noise, Kazooie shot out a blue egg that, when it hit the pteraptor, froze it solid. The raptor stopped moving and fell to its death.

Meanwhile, Banjo was riding his pteraptor like a bucking bronco. However, the raptor "Bucked" Banjo off and Banjo had to hold onto its feet to stay airborne. The raptor kicked wildly to try and get Banjo off. Banjo reached up and then grabbed the raptor's wing. The raptor floated to the ground while trying to fly at the same time, but it couldn't fly with just one wing and Banjo was very heavy. When Banjo touched ground, he took something from the talons. The bear then reached behind him, picked a random rock, and brought it smashing onto the pteraptor's head. It roared in pain before Banjo heaved it into a nearby pool with a SPLASH. The pteraptor's wings proved a handicap and it struggled to stay on the surface, but in another minute, it sunk below the surface, leaving nothing but a trail of bubbles. After a while, Kazooie came back down and Banjo looked up to see two specks in the sky heading for the top of the tree.

"Huh. They were actually good around here." Banjo admitted.

"I certainly regret calling them the Two Stooges." Kazooie said, nervously.

At the top of a tree was a temple that didn't seem light enough for the top of a tree to support. Fox and Link stared at it, then at each other, and decided that they would talk physics later.

The Wood Shrine was lit with torches of green flame and was decorated with branches and leaves. Just like in other shrines, there were two slots in the middle of the room and Link and Fox knew what to do.

In the dimensional realm, the green spiral was glowing. A green light appeared and out came…

"Wumba?!" Link asked in surprise.

"Who you expect? Mumbo?" She asked.

"Well, yeah." Fox answered.

"Enough chitchat. Here spell for Fox." She said as she raised her hands into the air.

A green light merged with Fox's body and he felt a new power flow through him.

"This spell allow Fox to control plant life. Simply plant staff in ground and plants will do what you say." She explained.

"Gotcha. I think plants will help a lot." The Cornerian thanked.

When they left, Wumba's last words were, "I think Mumbo very jealous now."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: So what happened?**

Link and Fox were transported back to the bottom of the tree and Mumbo and Banjo were there to meet them.

"So, who Sage of Wood?" Mumbo asked with a shrug.

"You're not going to believe this, but…" Fox began, but Link simply answered for him.

"It's Wumba." He answered.

Mumbo's feathers flew off his head and were replaced with steam. You could even hear a train whistle go off in rage as he shouted to the heavens in anger.

"MUMBO FAR BETTER THAN WUMBA!!!" He said through complete rage.

Banjo rolled his eyes and said, "There he goes again."

"Well, we better get going now. We're on a mission." Fox said as he started walking away.

Just then, they reappeared at their spaceship with Mumbo, Banjo, and Kazooie close by.

"We found your ship, Mr. Pilot." Kazooie bragged.

"Mr. Pilot, How common." Fox said sarcastically.

Fox then looked at the device on his wrist and noticed something.

"Wow. Allos' ship is less than an hour's flight away." He said as he inspected it.

"Can't we use the Dimension Ring?" Link asked, hoping Fox wouldn't answer.

"No. If we do, we might crash into him and it will be the end of us." Fox answered.

"I'll get in." The hylian said reluctantly as he climbed in.

"Buh-bye!" Kazooie called as the ship took off.

In space, Link was curious about a few things. He had a few questions on his mind that still needed to be answered and he hadn't answered any of them even now.

"Fox, what if we find the last sage and we have to go back?" He asked.

"Don't worry. Remember in Mario's world? If I call, it'll come back in a flash." Fox assured his friend, "I'll get home just fine."

Link sat back in his chair and then decided to start a conversation.

"Fox, what happened after you got back?" He asked.

Fox spoke without turning his head.

"I knew you'd ask me that sooner or later. Anyway, it all started when we got back. When Krystal and I returned, we started going out with each other. She had nothing to hide from me now. Soon, we were going to be married, but I had no tuxedo. So I went over to a friend's and got one, but my Arwing ran out of fuel and I had to be there very soon. My friend gave me a ship, but it had no weapons. I went into an asteroid field and Star Wolf was waiting for me. Fortunately, I escaped back to Corneria, but I didn't know I was followed." Fox told his friend.

"Followed? Who followed you?" Link asked with a shrug.

"Guess what? Panther hacked into a communication I was using with Falco and he actually followed me without even noticing. I burst through the door of the cathedral just minutes before it started. During the wedding, just when it was almost time to kiss the bride, he snuck inside and tried to KILL ME! It's a good thing the rest of the team was there to help. He was arrested, but Star Wolf got him out and he hasn't had much taste for women now." Fox filled in.

"What happened to him?" Link asked.

Universes away, Panther was sulking in a corner, looking pretty stern.

"Wolf said he doesn't want to talk about it. Although, I heard that Panther has given up on Krystal and now he wants a person called Katt Munroe." Fox answered.

"Who's Katt?" Link asked.

"She's a pink cat that used to have a crush on Falco. Every once in a while, she reappeared, but she threw quite a hissy fit when Falco dumped her. He says he doesn't need a girlfriend." Fox explained. He then said, in his best Falco impression, "As long as I've got my wings, I'm happy."

Link coughed, which could have held a laugh. Fox couldn't help either and he laughed as well.

"Alright, Allos' signal should be right…OH MY GOSH!!!" Fox screamed.

Right in front of them was a big red vortex easily big enough to swallow King Kong. Fox seized the yoke of the ship and turned the Arwing II around. However, the gravity pull was too strong and the ship was going nowhere, except slowly into the vortex.

"I can't get away! It's pulling us in!" Fox shouted as he tried struggling against its gravity pull.

The Arwing II ended up flipping backwards into the portal and both Link and Fox were sent hurtling into it.

The whole thing stopped when they crashed into land. When they hopped out, the landscape was very similar to Termina Field in Link's perspective. As they looked around, they saw a bunch of buildings, houses, and even roads. Then they saw it: The Drache IV and a bunch of three-toed footprints in the ground that lead from the spaceship into the city through the sewer system.

"If I find Allos…I'm going to KILL HIM!" Link said as he ran through the water system.

"Save some for me, Link. I want a piece of him too!" Fox called as he ran after him.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: A whole new world**

Link and Fox raced through the sewer lining, making sure to keep a good eye on tunnels that went straight. After at least five minutes of traveling through the stench and dampness of the sewer, they finally came to an exit.

"Finally! I get some light!" Link thought out loud.

Then, Link saw that they were in a large city filled with odd people. It had neon signs, all kinds of advertisement stands, and odd, wheel-shaped vehicles.

"Where the HECK are we?!" Fox asked, surprised.

Link shrugged and said, "I dunno. I haven't been to Termina in a couple years."

"Must've been a BAD 'couple of years'." Fox commented.

Just then, Link brushed by someone and he got a good look at him. The man was tall, muscular, and had thick, black hair ALL OVER HIS BODY.

"Fox, I think that guy has a body hair problem." Link said as he looked back at the 'man'.

Fox got a good look at him and his mouth fell open. He then put his jaw back into place and turned to Link.

"Link, that's not a human. That's a gorilla!" He explained.

As the two looked around, Link saw many things. He brushed a big, muscular guy that looked like a T-rex accompanied by a lizard-thing with wings that he took to be a dragon. There was also some guy with two appendages near his mouth and compound eyes that Link didn't even want to know about.

"This place is strange. A bear man, a tortoise coot, a peacock lady, a kitten girl, and a Chihuahua boy." Fox thought out loud.

"Who needs a trip to the zoo or the museum if you can visit THIS place?" Link also thought out loud.

Then, Link brushed by a cat guy that looked oddly familiar. For a second, Link thought it was his old nemesis, Concolor. But then he realized that this cat was bigger, more muscular, and more importantly, had stripes.

"Fox, I think I know whose world we're in." Link said, trying to tell Fox something.

"Whose?" Fox asked, his eyes on a lizard guy.

"CONCOLOR'S WORLD!" Link answered as he pointed at the tiger man.

Fox got a good look at the tiger walking past them and his eyes widened in slight astonishment. Then, he got a good look around at everything and everyone around them.

"Amazing. This world is populated by humanoid things. They're every organism on the zoological record." Fox said as he looked around.

"Translation, please?" Link asked.

Fox turned to his friend and said, "This place has no humans. The inhabitants of this place are every animal that ever lived from trilobites to apes."

Link then brushed by a muscular elephant and it turned and said, "Watch it, twerp!"

As the elephant trundled along, Link quietly muttered, "Could be a bit friendlier, though."

"Now come on. If we don't hurry, we're sure to lose Allos in the crowd." Fox said, taking off with Link close behind.

After a while of wading through the crowd, they found someone they instantly recognized. Even without his armor, Allos was almost instantly recognizable with his triangular snout and sharp teeth. Link took off with Fox in hot pursuit, but Allos saw them coming and sprinted away as fast as he could. While they were chasing Allos, they ran head-on into someone and all three of them tumbled to the ground.

"Sorry about that. We're in a…" Link began, but then his eyes saw what he hit.

The person they ran into was a very pretty dolphin lady dressed in blue. She had just dropped her bag and its components had spilled everywhere. She got up and spoke in a bit of a spunky voice, all the while trying to pick up her stuff.

"You're in a what?" She asked.

"We're in a hurry. So, excuse us." Fox apologized as he picked up Link and hurried off.

As they hurried off, the dolphin lady stared for a while then saw that they were after someone. She had a good guess of who it was and quickly took off to parts unknown.

Link and Fox continued looking for Allos, but he had gone from sight. The collision with the dolphin girl had let the dinosaur get a pretty good head start. After searching around for hours, they finally ran out of breath.

"SHOOT!" Link cursed as he kicked a nearby building, only giving himself a throbbing toe.

Fox managed to keep Link from hurting himself even further and knew they had to keep looking. Then, after a while, the two seemed to give up and took a seat near a kind of music shop that a parrot came out of with a guitar.

"BRAAWWK! I'm sure going to like these new strings." The parrot said as he strummed them a few times.

Fox put a hand on Link's shoulder and said, "Hey, things could be worse…"

"I don't see how it could get worse. We lost Allos, we can't leave yet, and we won't last here. How could it get worse?" Link asked.

Just then, a bunch of wolves dressed in police suits came in with sinister looking guns. Link put his fingers on his sword and Fox fingered his staff, but in no time, they were surrounded.

"Don't move!" A black wolf said in a gravelly voice as he aimed a gun at Link's forehead.

"It JUST…GOT…WORSE." Link said as he hung his head.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: On the run**

The wolves, which Link and Fox guessed were police officers, cuffed them and prodded the two with their guns until they threw them into a kind of car. They drove off and they happened to pass by the dolphin girl again, who was running as though there was no tomorrow.

"Hey, Fox," Link said as he peered out the window, "I think we saw that same girl somewhere."

"Uh, Link? Now's not the time to be remembering people we've seen so far." Fox said as he continued to look forward.

"Keep it quiet back there. I have an especially itchy trigger finger and I'm not afraid to use it." The black wolf ordered.

"Huh. The charm never stops around here." Fox said sarcastically.

Without warning, a bolt of blue energy narrowly missed both of their heads and charred their backseats. Fox winced as he thought of what would happen if he was just one inch to his right. He got out of that state of mind to see that they were at a building that he took to be police HQ.

In just a matter of seconds, they were held up against the wall and chained. A pair of coyotes went up to them and stripped them of everything from Fox's canteen to Link's shield. Link looked up at the height chart and smiled.

"Hey, Fox, I grew an inch." He joked.

Just then, they saw a few cops with sinister-looking things that emitted a kind of thin laser. The strange thing was that these thin lasers were aimed right at their foreheads.

"Oh no…" Fox said, his eyes widening.

"NONONONONONONONO!" Link said, his own eyes widening.

There were white flashes of light, but nothing seemed to change. In fact, they didn't even feel any form of abdominal pain or anything else for that matter. After a few tense seconds, Fox spoke up.

"Are we dead yet?" Fox asked.

Link looked around and answered, "No. I don't think so. Because I never pictured the Sacred Realm to look like this."

A coyote went up to them and said, "Of course you're not dead! We simply took your pictures, morons."

Fox and Link's eyes seemed to scream, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAT" as they stared with open eyes. However, before they could even pound this coyote, the black wolf came back in with his gun slung over his shoulder.

"Now come on, jailbirds, or you'll have a hole burned right through your brains." The wolf threatened, fingering his gun.

In less than five minutes, they were sitting in front of a very solemn-looking buffalo accompanied by an all-too-familiar dinosaur. Fox squinted at this thing and was beginning to get suspicious when the buffalo, who was obviously a judge, spoke up.

"You two are under arrest for attacking MY assistant." The buffalo said as he gestured toward his assistant.

Then it hit Link. That thing WAS the guy he was looking for, he just wasn't wearing armor or helmet for that matter.

"ALLOS!" Link said, unable to contain himself.

The buffalo turned around and the dinosaur did too. After a good look around, the buffalo seemed to scowl even more as he glared back down at the two.

"I don't see any 'Allos'." The buffalo said, sternly.

"You dimwit! He's right beside you!" Link shouted.

The buffalo looked, shrugged, and said, "You're joking right? Fragilis is one of the biggest weapon-manufacturers in the world. If it wasn't for him, we would have lost every war we went to. For that stupid lie, I sentence you to twenty years in prison."

"I'll take them to their cell, sir." Allos said, keeping a straight face.

Allos accompanied two wolves to escort Fox and Link to their cell. Strangely, Allos spoke so quietly that the wolves couldn't hear him.

"Now you'll learn not to mess with my plans, you pair of weaklings." Allos said, grinning, "Let's see you worm out of this one."

The two wolves walked behind them with the guns pointing right into their backs and crammed both of them into a prison cell that was no bigger than a bathroom. It took more than ten minutes for both of them to fit onto their beds, which were only big enough to hold a dog.

"Link?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, Fox?"

"I'm just so glad I got to work with you. If we do fail, we'll fail together." Fox said as he smiled.

Link looked at Fox and smiled as well. But just then, something jarred the bars and Fox shot up.

"Hey, cops! Can't you leave us alone?! We're trying to sleep here!" Fox shouted, shaking his fist.

"Is that how you treat a friend?" A voice asked.

Fox stopped shaking his fist when he realized it was the dolphin girl. She was wearing a police uniform and had apparently snuck away from the cops. It was still her; Fox recognized her face and spunky tone anywhere. She then snuck something out of her pocket and stuck it in the lock. She picked at the lock and it was unlocked in minutes, then the door slowly opened. Link and Fox walked out, careful not to wake any other prisoners.

Fox then saw a briefcase with a snoozing Allos next to it. In another movement, he took it and ran off after his two friends.

"Thanks, miss." Link said as he ran.

"Please, call me Teal. Now let's get going before Allos wakes up." The dolphin suggested.

"Okay, Teal." Fox said, the briefcase in his arms, "But how did you get that uniform and how do you know Allos?"

"I'm a government agent. We've been hunting Allos for years and now we have reason to believe it's the man the judge calls 'Fragilis'." Teal answered.

"What's that for?" Link asked, spying the briefcase in Fox's arms.

Fox opened it and Link saw why. Inside the briefcase was Allos' armor segments, guns, and various other weapons. Even his jetpack was jammed in there.

"Wait! What about our stuff?" Fox asked; he had almost forgotten about it.

"Don't worry. I got it covered." Teal said as she took out Fox's staff and Link's sword and shield.

"Thanks again, Teal." Fox said, truly amazed, and took the staff back before strapping it to his pack.

Just when they were almost out, a light flared to life and several wolf cops surrounded them and aimed their guns. There was no way out of this, but now they had a fighting chance against them now that they had their weapons back.

"Don't move!" The black one snarled, almost pulling the trigger.

Allos was among the wolves and he held out his hand so that Fox could hand over the briefcase. Fox got a plan that would expose this guy for the fake he really was.

"Hey, cops. 'Fragilis' here forgot his BRIEFCASE!" Fox said as he opened it up.

The police gasped and Allos' eyes widened and he began to sweat profusely. The cops looked at "Fragilis" and redirected their guns to fire at him. Allos didn't seem too worried by this and simply snickered.

"Nice detective work, you two. But now I think I'll take things into my own hands." Allos said in a quiet voice.

He then took out a silver instrument and pressed a blue button. The armor and weapons flew out of the briefcase and attached themselves to the correct parts of the dinosaur's body. When the helmet went onto his head and Allos placed his fingers on top of two red circles on each side of the headgear. Blue goggles/sunglasses appeared and a blast of blue energy burst from them and melted all their guns.

"Fragilis sold you some lousy guns, you know that?" Allos said as he watched the cops stare at what used to be their weapons.

Allos then activated his jetpack and went onto one of the wheel vehicles. He pressed a few buttons and the wheel thing went off like a racecar, running over several police officers in the process. Fox and Link instantly saw three more and gestured for Teal to come with them.

"Can you drive one of these things?" Teal asked Link.

Link thought a while and answered, "No."

Fox got on a separate one and took off with Teal and Link sharing a car. Fox tinkered around with the buttons and finally got it going before Allos got too far. Teal raced off with Link holding onto the side of the vehicle just after Fox chased after Allos.

Link and Teal got side-by-side with Fox and Link asked, "How do you know how to drive that thing?"

"Comes from sitting around on my butt playing video games, that's how." Fox answered.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26: Soaked**

The wheel vehicles had Link, Fox, Teal, and Allos inside them and they were in a chase scene just like in the movies. While they were chasing, Fox happened to notice the Drivers' manual and flipped it open.

"Oh, I seriously doubt he's getting this kind of mileage." Fox said as he read it in disbelief and put it back.

Allos smirked as he activated a control on his wrist. A metal panel on his wristband opened up to reveal a kind of conveyor belt with gun barrels. The guns blasted rapidly in any direction and Fox had to keep swerving to the side to avoid being hit. Fox raised his staff and plants tried to seize the vehicle. However, the rotating bit had blades to keep it from slipping and acted like a pair of hedge clippers, making chopped salad out of the growing plants.

"RATS!" Fox cursed as he snapped his fingers.

"Teal! Think you can get alongside him?!" Link shouted over the noise.

Teal heard him loud and clear and swerved past Fox to bring Link close. When he was close, he thrust his sword at Allos and shot lightning at him. Allos ducked quickly and the bolt missed as Allos took out a blaster and fired. Link put up his mirror shield and the blast ricocheted off and put a sizeable dent in Allos' vehicle. Allos flinched from the suddenness of the blast and aimed his blaster again Link then pointed his sword at Allos' gun and it became magnetized. It shot out of Allos' hand and zoomed at Link's blade. Link then took the gun and tossed it over his shoulder, leaving it in the dust behind the vehicle.

"Ha! I don't need a gun to lose you, losers." Allos taunted from his vehicle.

Fox was determined to help any way he could, so he took his staff and used the permafrost control given to him by Krystal. The ice rushed through the ground and rose up Allos' vehicle, freezing the blades and the engine. The blades didn't rotate as fast now and Allos looked back as best he could and scowled at Fox, showing every one of his sharp teeth.

Allos looked ahead, pulled a lever on his vehicle, and it began to slow down even more. The bounty hunter then took off on his jetpack and the three saw that the wheel was going right into…a lake.

Teal grinded to a halt, almost sending Link flying off the vehicle, and Fox also screeched to a complete stop. Allos laughed as he came down on them with his Gatling wristgun firing. Fox ducked under all the blasts and smashed the gun out of Allos' hand with his staff. Fox swung his weapon again, but Allos caught it and kneed him in the stomach. Fox fell backwards and Allos still had the staff in his hands. He tried to break it with his knee, but it didn't even crack, seeing as not even a battleaxe could break it. He was about to try again when he saw a leather boot come bashing into his face. Allos fell backwards and almost landed feet-first into the water. However, he simply activated something on his boots and something like air pumps activated in them. Result: Allos was hovering a few inches off the water's surface. Link stamped his foot into the ground, but Fox came through for him.

"Here! Use this!" Fox said as he planted his staff into the ground.

The lake began to slowly freeze over and created a kind of path for Link to walk on. Link tested it with his foot and he confirmed that it was more than thick enough to support his weight. Link raced onto the ice after Allos, quickly followed by Fox.

Allos turned and a pair of what appeared to be jagged blades popped out of his metal gauntlets. Link swung his sword, but Allos raised one of the forearm blades and blocked it. He quickly turned to block a staff strike from Fox and threw the pilot to the ground and turned to block Link again and kick him in the chest. Link stumbled backward and quickly came back with his weapon at the ready. He thought of using an earthquake attack, but then he remembered that it only worked when it came into contact with the earth. Just then, Allos noted that the wind was picking up and he saw Fox spinning his staff at him.

"What's the matter, Allos? Gone with the wind?" Fox asked.

Allos raised his blades and brought them crashing down onto the ice, holding him in place. Then, in a bold attempt, he brought one arm out of the ice while the other held him in place. He placed his free arm in front of his other and activated something. A long cord with a hook on the end fired out of the gun and wrapped around Fox's leg. Fox saw it and his eyes widened in horror as Allos gave a good tug. Fox fell backwards and dropped his staff on the ice, causing the wind to stop. Allos huffed and puffed as he regained his breath and then he activated his optic force blasts. He wasn't aiming for Fox and Link; he was aiming at the ice and he melted it. He ended up melting it so that he was on an ice floe and Fox and Link couldn't catch him. He then made a few quick repairs on his jetpack and took off in search of his spaceship.

Link grunted in frustration as he pounded the ice with his fist. He then saw that there was a structure under the water.

"Hey, what's that?" Link asked as he pointed at the structure.

Teal went over and inspected it. She scratched her chin and Fox was quick to join them. Teal's eyes then widened as she realized what this was.

"This is a shrine that was thought to be lost long ago. It's supposedly where my kind came from. Some say it was built by a great deity whose name means, 'Dragon'." She explained.

"Well, Link, I think it's fair that we go down there." Fox advised.

He was about to dive in when Link stopped him. He was carrying two tunics that were bright blue instead of green.

"Here. If we wear these, we can breathe underwater." Link suggested, handing one to Fox.

Fox nodded and said, "You're learning from me, Link. Always coming prepared."

Teal watched as the two put the tunics on over their clothes, dove below the surface, and went through the underwater temple's main entrance.

The inside of the temple was magnificent. It was decorated with jade statues of a lion, an eagle, a whale, and a dragon. There was even a hieroglyphic of some huge dragon-like creature with a body similar to a man's. It also depicted that there were flames just below him, probably of mass destruction. Link guessed that, whoever this was, he couldn't have been anything good. They then saw came to the surface and saw they were in a room with two slots right in the middle of it.

"Well, would you look at that. This temple: it's the Water Shrine." Fox said as he looked around. He had forgotten to check his staff's map.

Then, the two raised their weapons and inserted them into the slots. When they did, the blue light engulfed them and took them to the dimensional realm.

After waiting for about ten minutes, Teal decided to go back to town. She had had enough of waiting for Fox and Link to return. After all, she had more important things to attend to. Just when Teal had taken two steps, she heard a whooshing noise and a bright blue light was rushing up to her at a phenomenal rate. It engulfed her and then she heard voices in her head saying that she was a chosen one and that she was a sage.

When the blue light cleared, Fox and Link saw Teal in front of them.

"You two are close to the end of your adventure. There's only one sage left and if you get it right, you'll save your world, Link." She said.

Link blushed and Fox elbowed him as though he knew he was doing something. After wincing from Fox's elbow, he shook the cobwebs from his head and straightened up a bit.

"Here's a spell for you, Fox. You'll need it for the situation." Teal said as she raised her hands into the air.

The blue light touched Fox and the Cornerian felt something come from within. It felt as though he was experiencing the calmest sensation in the world, but as soon as it began, it ended.

"This spell will allow you to shoot a jet of water. It will be good when there are fire-based enemies. Use it well." The white light engulfed Fox and Link and Teal's last sentence was, "And to think I wanted to go shopping."

Fox and Link reappeared at the place where the Arwing II was: outside the sewer pipe entrance. Link saw the ship, but then he remembered that the Dimension Ring was back at Banjo's world.

"GREAT! NOW WE'RE STRANDED HERE!!!" Link shouted, unable to hold it in much longer.

"Uh, I can simply use the attractor, Link. We can still get out of here." Fox said.

Link had the "I should've known" look on his face as Fox pressed a button in the ship. After a few minutes, the radar acted up and Fox smiled.

"Good news. The Dimension Ring is now in orbit."

Link clambered inside and Fox said, "You ready to go home?"

"Home?" Link asked, confused.

"The last sage is in Hyrule. Remember when we first began?" Fox asked, "I said that there's only one sage in your world. We have to go to Hyrule now."

"Oh." was all Link could say.

Then, the two went off into space and began the journey back to Hyrule. Unfortunately, they were playing right into an old friend's hands.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27: The Welcome Wagon**

Fox and Link were chasing after Allos' signal and were hot on his heels. After the lightspeed cleared, the planet Link saw was magnificent. It was like seeing Earth from space for the first time. Link's attention then shifted from the planet to the dragon-like ship of Allos' Drache IV as it zoomed through the planet's atmosphere. The ship began to glow bright red as it began heating up from the speed of rushing into the atmosphere.

"Link, hold on!" Fox commanded as he fidgeted with the controls.

Without warning, Link was thrown backwards as the Arwing II zoomed after Allos' ship. As they flew toward the planet, Link felt like he was going to lose his lunch. Fox's teeth were gritted and he continued to push the yoke of his ship, putting his whole weight onto it. He was determined to catch Allos and end this once and for all.

Just when the clouds cleared, Fox saw Allos' ship on the ground and pulled out of the dive just in time. Link jerked forward and almost hurled, but his stomach managed to stop writhing like a bunch of snakes. Fox had already hopped out of his ship and rushed over to the ship. The Drache IV was now no more than a large pile of unrecognizable scrap metal and the cockpit was wide open. When Link got out, Fox looked pretty frustrated.

"Nothing's in there! He must have abandoned ship before he crashed." He said as he put his fist into his palm.

Link was getting very frustrated, seeing as an enemy he wanted dead was NOT dead. He was almost tempted to kick the ship in anger, but then a voice came from nowhere and he immediately calmed down.

"Link! You're back!" It said.

Link turned to see Zelda running toward her and he smiled as he went to meet her. Just then, Fox's staff began vibrating slightly. Fox, a little confused, took it out and saw that it was glowing a faint purple glow. This was the spell that Shadow gave them and he knew something was wrong here. He then began to try and find the source by pointing his staff in every direction he could think of. Then, he found the source.

Link and Zelda shared an embrace that seemed to last an eternity. They had only been gone for a few weeks, but it felt like four years. This was too good to be true.

Suddenly, a sharp voice said, "Back away, Link!"

Link turned around and saw Fox with a very stern look on his face. Link was confused, but he did what Fox said and slowly backed away, leaving a confused Zelda to look at Fox. The minute Link took three steps back, Fox sprung like a cat, his staff raised into the air. He landed and then performed a sweep that knocked Zelda off her feet. She tried to crawl away, but Fox was already in her way and had the front of his staff pointing at her throat.

"I'm sorry, but this is for your own good!" Fox said as he raised his staff again.

He tried to bring it crashing down on Zelda's head, but something got in the way. Fox looked down to see a steel blade blocking his way and then into the eyes of Link, who was very ANGRY.

"Stop this now, Fox." Link growled.

Fox spun the sword away and tried to strike Zelda again, but Link blocked with the sword and punched Fox in the face. Fox stumbled backwards, teeth gritted in sheer frustration.

"I'm trying to save Hyrule, Link! Stop it!" Fox shouted as he charged again.

Fox leapt into the air and kicked the best friend he ever had away. Fox tried to strike again when Link planted the tip of his sword into the ground. A small earthquake went through the ground and tripped Fox up, causing him to fall backward. Link put his sword to Fox's throat, almost murderously but Fox simply raised a foot and kicked Link in the back. Link fell forward and had just gotten to his feet when he began to feel a strong wind. He later saw Fox spinning his staff and using the wind attack Metaknight gave him. Link flew into the air from the sheer force of the wind, but gracefully landed on his feet and brought a wave of fire at Fox. Fox countered by pointing his staff forward and using the water attack that Teal gave him. A jet of water burst from his staff and extinguished the flames, but when the flames cleared, Link was coming to meet him, his sword raised high. Fox simply spun backward on his staff, the gilded sword missing by inches and turned it into an attack. The Cornerian pilot planted the staff into the ground and used the Permafrost Control given to him by Krystal. Large chunks of ice sprung from ground and hurled themselves at Link, who cleaved them in two with his sword. Just then, ice began to gather at Link's feet and began to hold them in place. Link quickly raised his sword, used the Lightning Blade to melt the ice into no more than a puddle.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!" Link shouted in anger.

Fox didn't say anything, but he quickly flipped when Link used his Magnetism and a chunk of metal flew at him like a discus. The hylian scowled as he took another hunk of metal from Allos' ship and threw it at him. Fox ducked and quickly planted his staff into the ground. At first, Link thought it was the Permafrost Control and quickly leapt backward for nothing. When he landed, a tree burst from the ground and wrapped one of its roots around Link's sword hand. Link tried to break free, but the root was too strong and he had to use movement to activate his spells. He was just about to rip a root off his hand when another root wrapped around his legs and his remaining arm. Link struggled against the tree's roots, growling in frustration as he tried to free his arms and legs until he ran out of breath and simply huffed and puffed. For the first time ever, he had lost to his own friend.

Once the tree immobilized Link, Fox turned to see that Zelda was gone. He roared in frustration, took the staff out of the ground, and threw it to the ground. The tree disappeared, releasing Link in the process, and the hylian fell to the ground. When he looked up, he was somewhat satisfied that Zelda was safe and out of Fox's way.

"She's GONE!" Fox growled.

"Well at least she's safe from YOU!" Link said behind Fox's back.

Fox, very angry, went over to the spot where the fight began and picked up something. When Link inspected it, he saw it was a knife more than a foot long. But he didn't see it before and Fox couldn't have used something like that.

"Do you know who was holding this?" Fox asked as he put the knife's tip less than an inch from Link's face.

"At the moment, you." Link shot back.

Fox looked Link in the eye and said, "I saw ZELDA carrying this. And she was about to stick it in your back!"

Link didn't know what hit him and couldn't believe what he just heard. Zelda having a knife? That dive in the Arwing II must have done something to Fox's mind.

He stifled a laugh and said, "Sorry, Fox. But it's just too funny."

Fox took out his staff and said, "Remember that spell Shadow gave me? He said it would glow purple and vibrate when someone with a dark heart was close. I saw no one around, but YOU, ME, and ZELDA. It glowed when I pointed it at her."

Link was caught: the staff never lied and Fox wasn't lying. Link felt very stupid and he should have let Fox find a way to save her.

"Come on! We've got two people to find." Fox said as he put his staff away and walked off.

Link didn't follow. Fox turned around to see a look of emptiness in his face; one similar to something he had to do once. He then turned back and spoke, not facing Link, but still addressing him.

"She's not the woman you love anymore, Link!"

Link's empty expression turned to one of confusion. Did Fox just say what he thought he said?

"What did you say?" He asked.

"The woman you kissed two years ago is gone!" Fox said more clearly.

Just then, Link's mind hit one person. One who promised to keep a secret so long ago and he broke it.

"Sonic told you?!" He asked angrily, "I told him to…"

"Sonic didn't tell me. I figured it out." Fox corrected in a more calm voice than before.

Link calmed down and then decided to sit down. He had just turned on Sonic and he didn't even try to simplify the matter. When Link sat down, he sat on something hard and felt something with his hand. He pulled it out to reveal a pointed metal object with a kind of black liquid in it.

"What's this?" Link asked as he inspected it.

Fox took it from him and said, "Some kind of dart. I'll bet this is what made Zelda evil. I'll scan the components immediately. If I'm correct, there may be an antidote and we may be able to save her."

Fox put it in his wrist device and sent the results to Slippy, who was universes away. The time to save Hyrule was NOW.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28: The ritual**

That night, Link and Fox sat down and began to discuss a battle plan. If Allos had Zelda, then they would have to get him before taking Zelda back.

"Alright, we know that Allos would expect us to barge in. So we better try the old ambush technique." Fox said as he dipped his head in thought.

"Knowing him, he would probably take to the air. I'll see what I can do with his jetpack." Link said as he made a kind of battle plan in the dirt.

"If he wants Ganon, he'll have to find the last place he was defeated." Fox said, continuing to think.

Link thought for a while and then said, "Hyrule Castle. That's where I stuck my sword into his head."

Fox made a disgusted face and said, "That's somewhat disturbing. But if it will help us beat Allos, it'll be worth it."

They then high-fived and then their little party was sent crashing down. A new thought just hit Fox's mind.

"It would work, but WHERE IS ALLOS?!" Fox shouted out loud.

Link didn't answer. Instead, he was staring off into space and Fox felt like he was being ignored.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME, LINK?!" Fox shouted.

Link took Fox by the head and turned him around and Fox saw why he was spaced out.

Somewhere to the north, there was a great wall of orange light. Someone had lit a huge fire there. Then, suddenly, something hit Fox.

"He wanted us to do this… Link! ZELDA is the sage of light!" Fox said, unable to contain it.

"What?" Link asked, surprised.

"Don't you see? Allos WANTED us to find the sages! He knew he couldn't awaken them himself and he needed to change at least one of them to perform the ritual, so he led us right to them. He led us into a trap! We have to act NOW if the ritual is to fail." Fox said in a very tense tone.

Link was utterly shocked. They had unwittingly walked onto the trapdoor of a crocodile-filled moat and if he had just let Fox find Zelda, Ganon may not be unleashed.

"I've read Allos' journal and he's after this ritual. He's going to have Zelda with him and wait for the full moon to be right in the middle of the sky. Once that happens, he will sacrifice himself and Ganon will live." Fox explained as he started looking at the sky.

The full moon was up alright and it was about three quarters of the way to the middle. One question was still on Link's mind. He didn't want to know the answer, but he asked anyway.

"Wait. What does Allos need Zelda for?"

Fox lowered his head and said, "She is the key. He already knew she was a sage and used this dart on her. It turned her against us and she will make sure the ritual goes as planned. Once Ganon is unleashed, he will take her Triforce of Wisdom and make sure that none of her descendants will purge him. HE'LL…KILL…HER!"

Link felt like a chainsaw ripped through his heart and put it through a paper shredder, too. He shook the sudden impact out of his mind and then looked more determined than he had ever before.

"Well, don't just stand there! Let's stop Allos!" Link said in a determined tone.

Fox nodded and they ran off as fast as they could.

Meanwhile, at Hyrule Castle to the north, Allos was setting up torches and had a made kind of circle made by a dark purple powder. Zelda was right there with absolutely no shine in her eyes. They were now no more than blue stones and completely emotionless.

"Alright, everything is set up. Now all I have to do is wait for the moon." Allos said in a hopeful growl.

The moon would be in the middle of the sky in just a few minutes' time. Allos had Ganon to thank for keeping his opponents warmed up for him. Allos had been to every dimension before getting caught by Fox and Link and had gotten into all their archives. He had stolen memories from every computer and had stolen the data for Scales, Ridley, and Black Doom. He then performed a spell that would bring these memories to life. Although, he used the one from Fox's Test of Fear memory to make Scales super-sized. Everything would be over soon and his master would live again.

Link and Fox had barely gotten past the gate when they saw something just to the castle's west side. The torches were lit up with a bright orange flame and appeared to be growing by the minute. The moon was almost in the middle of the sky and Fox guessed they only had between fifteen and ten minutes to stop the ritual.

"Come on! There's not much time left!" Link said, rushing past Fox.

"We'll never make it!" Fox said, trying to keep up.

The time was almost here and Allos knew it. The dinosaur-like bounty hunter stepped inside the circles and stripped himself of his armor, leaving only the skintight pilot suit. He then held his arms out like a scarecrow and began to speak an incantation. He was right in the middle of it when he saw a familiar green hat.

Allos quickly realized who it was and went for a gun he put on the ground. It was too late. An arrow from Link's bow had already lodged itself in his chest. Normally, the arrow would have NO effect whatsoever. But since Allos wasn't wearing his armor, his wound proved fatal and he began to wobble.

Allos fell into the center circle and said, with his last words, "The King of Evil will rise…a…gain."

Allos flopped to the ground and the moon was right over their heads. Fox and Link looked at each other in a manner that seemed to say "Uh oh" and the ritual began. The purple rings made by Allos ignited like fireworks until they were a whole circle. The sparks engulfed Allos' corpse and the dinosaur's limp body began to levitate as though he were hanged by an invisible rope. Then, Allos' limbs seemed to fling apart like a scarecrow and the dark flames began to swirl until they finally crystallized. A large purple crystal formed over Allos' burnt body and formed a twenty five-foot crystal. Then, Allos' eyes snapped opened, blood-red and soulless before the crystal shattered. Then, to Fox and Link's surprise, Allos' body began to change. Bones crunched and molded until his body was completely changed into a beast. The monster, which looked like a cross between a boar, a goat, and a gorilla let out a King Kong-like roar before catching his breath. Allos was consumed by GANON.

Zelda, who had been in a kind of trance, let out an "oh" like she had just been surprised and slumped to the ground, out cold.

"Too late." Fox and Link said altogether.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29: He's BACK!**

Ganon was breathing so heavily, Link and Fox could feel it as well and they were well over twenty feet away in the bushes. Fox had never seen Ganon before and now he wished he hadn't seen him just now.

The monster looked at them and said, in a low growling voice, "All of Hyrule will kneel before its new king!"

Ganon raised his mighty hand and lightning seemed to strike him. As electricity flowed through his body, the great beast began to change and grow. The cloven hooves turned into pads and got an extra toe until they looked like the feet of a rhinoceros. His goat-like horns moved to the sides until they looked like a ox's. His arms lengthened and the muscle mass increased until they were so bulky, Link could have spread his arms out and not be able to wrap around them. His muscles in the upper body increased and grew pitch black fur like a gorilla. The long, red hair spread around his neck and grew so long, it went past his chest and went all the way up to the horns. It was something like the mane of a lion. The tail began to move as part of it extended into a pair of jaws equipped with teeth. A new pair of eyeballs formed on the tail and even a distinct head. The tail had become a living serpent attached to Ganon's body. Then, to Link's dismay, the head changed. The jaws widened and lengthened and the teeth sharpened as the piggish snout faded away to make room for a large, reptilian head something like Tyrannosaurus rex's. During this whole transformation, Ganon was growing until he was twice the size of the monster Link faced in a forgotten event: fifty feet tall. Then, the mighty monster took a huge step forward and was going to try and stomp on both of heroes.

"MOVE!" Fox shouted, virtually tackling Link to dive away from the foot.

Link ran to the left, took out his bow and shot an arrow at Ganon's chest. The arrow stuck in the skin, but the big beast didn't seem to notice the arrow lodged in its chest. Link saw the snake maneuver around Ganon's body to try and strike him, but met it with an upward strike of his sword. The serpent flinched, flicking out its forked tongue, in apparent surprise. Ganon opened his mouth, let out a roar, and out shot a great ball of energy the size of an asteroid at them. They dodged and the ball exploded with the force of a C-bomb, leaving a patch of burned ground right where they were standing just seconds ago.

"Link! You get Zelda and try to awaken her as the sage. I'll see if I can keep this guy busy." Fox said as he drew his staff.

Link nodded and sprinted off to get Zelda. Ganon saw Link going for Zelda and tried going after him, his massive footsteps sounding like thunder. Fox took his staff and pointed it at Ganon like a spear. Water shot from it and hit Ganon in the face with such force, Ganon fell to the side, almost flattening Link. Link dodged and actually jumped over Ganon's ox-like horns to get Zelda. Ganon got up, roared a great dinosaur roar and raised a fist to swing at Fox. Fox planted the staff into the ground and a root as thick as an anaconda shot from the ground. Many more shot out and wrapped themselves around Ganon's arms before pulling him to the ground. Some even seized the snake tail and held it down as well. Ganon growled as he tried to get free, but then his eyes caught sight of Link, who was almost at Zelda's side. Ganon let loose a furious roar and actually snapped the vines like you would snap a piece of string. He reached onto his snake tail and ripped the vines off it as well. The snake inhaled greatly, seeing as one of the vines was around its mouth, and shook the dizziness out of its head. It caught sight of the hylian below and opened its mouth to strike Link.

Link was halfway there when an eerie hiss seemed to travel down his spine. He turned around and saw the massive serpent coming for him and swung his sword to use his Fire Sword attack. A wave of flame struck the serpent in the nose and left a shiny burn on it. The snake hissed in agony and tried to attack again, but it suddenly turned blue and stopped. Fox had used his Permafrost control and used it on the snake. Snakes were cold-blooded, and if the air was cold, they would slow down. Fox obviously knew this and the snake seemed to attack in slow motion. Ganon turned and advanced on Fox, his tail as stiff as an icicle behind him.

"Get down!" Link shouted as he popped the tip of his sword into the ground.

A shockwave that measured a five on the Richter scale went through the ground and Ganon tripped. Fox started running as fast as his legs would carry him and was just out of range when Ganon landed on the ground with a CRASH you could probably hear two miles away and his jaws snapped shut, barely trimming a few hairs on Fox's tail. Ganon was on his feet in a matter of seconds and Link knew that Fox was in trouble again. He pointed his sword at the gates of Hyrule Castle and the iron bars flew off their hinges and at the beast's mouth. The gates flew through the air, wrapped themselves around Ganon's jaws, and snapped them shut. Ganon was clearly surprised and struggled with his new muzzle in an attempt to get it off. However, this new muzzle was on tight and would take a bit of struggling before it got off. Fox was safe…for now.

By now, Link had reached Zelda and began to shake her wildly as though she was asleep.

"COME ON, ZELDA! Oh, please don't be dead. Don't be dead." Link said desperately.

Ganon took the bars in his ape-like hands and finally peeled them off with impressive strength. He shook the pain out of his head and saw Link and Zelda. The great beast emitted a low snarl as he put his right hand forward and the Triforce began to glow bright on it. A massive axe, easily as long as he was tall, appeared in his hand and the massive beast prepared to swing it at the triforce wielders.

Fox searched wildly and saw a rock that had been tossed up from Link's Earthquake attack. He then got behind the boulder, whipped out his staff, and spun his staff like a propeller. A tornado blew from the staff, picked the rock off the ground, and catapulted it right at Ganon. The boulder struck the beast across the face, causing him to roar in pain and spit out a few teeth. By now, Ganon's tail had thawed and began to recollect itself from the sluggishness of the cold.

Fox quickly went to Link and said, "I'll get her to safety. You can have a turn with big boy, here."

Fox heaved Zelda onto his shoulder and ran off as fast as his legs would carry him. If Hyrule was to survive, Zelda would have to be in the best shape Fox could offer.

Ganon's snake tail took notice of Link and hissed madly, alerting Ganon to the threat, and the massive monster turned around to let loose an earthshaking roar. Link simply took out the giants' mask and put it on his face. It was another game with the Scales they met on Sauria, only with a much uglier opponent. Link took out his sword and charged at the same time Ganon did. Another battle for the triforce was about to begin now.

Ganon swung his battleaxe hard at Link, who simply flipped backwards and caught a good swipe into Ganon's chest. It left a kind of gash, but the King of Evil's wound seemed to heal almost instantly. It was like watching a zipper close as blood coagulated and made new skin without even leaving a scar. Ganon, though he had a healing ability, was raging mad that he had been hurt that easily and struck again. This time, Link parried it and knocked the blade from his hand, but had to roll forward to avoid the black-furred fist of Ganon. But by the time he was on his feet, the snake was there to meet him and clamped its fangs into Link's blade before yanking it out of his hand and wrapping around him.

"You lose, boy." The new Ganon snarled as the snake tightened its grip.

Link struggled against the strength of Ganon's snakelike coils. It couldn't end here. It just couldn't.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30: The final Sage**

Fox had hurried away with Zelda over his shoulder to find safety. When he could only hear a distant roar, he put Zelda down and began trying to revive her.

"Okay. I know what to do, but I really should wash my hands." Fox said as he looked around, "Oh well." Fox said as he saw no water.

Zelda woke up with Fox performing CPR and trying to get oxygen in her lungs. Unfortunately, she thought he was kissing her and slapped him across the face.

"OW!" Fox exclaimed as he massaged the spot violently.

"YUCK! Hairball!" Zelda said, spitting fur out of her mouth.

Fox guess that whatever was in that dart wore off, so he was okay. All he had to do was try and get her to help them now.

"Now what was THAT? I try to find a way to save Link and you slap me?" Fox asked, somewhat angered.

Zelda froze on the "Save Link" bit and was now no longer angry.

"Link's in trouble?" She asked, worried.

"Yes. And if we don't hurry, it's likely that he'll get devoured by a fifty-foot monster." Fox answered.

Zelda then sprinted off with Fox hot on her heels. She was running surprisingly fast for someone in a gown and shoes not made for running. However, if it was going to save the world, it only made Fox all the more happier.

Zelda arrived just in time to see Ganon's serpent tail wrap itself around Link's throat and try to strangle him.

"OH NO! WE'RE TOO LATE!" Zelda said, almost crying.

"No we're not. Right now, I need you to focus all your energy into Link. You're a Dimensional Sage and you can give Link a spell of good use." Fox encouraged.

Zelda looked at Fox, who nodded, then stopped trying to suppress crying and closed her eyes. Slowly, a golden aura surrounded her and a beam of light, which was the same color as the aura, hit Link's body. Ganon's eyes widened as he saw this and even his snake tail was blinded.

When the light cleared, Link felt a whole new power flow through his body. The same rush he had when he had the Master Sword in his grip.

"LINK! CONCENTRATE ON THE MASTER SWORD!" Zelda shouted for advice.

Link wasted no time and reached out his hand. Somewhere in the Temple of Time, the Master Sword flew out of its pedestal and soared into Link's hand. Link seized it by the handle and it grew to the length of a school bus and could easily fit into his hand. Then, in a single movement, he brought it down and chopped the snake tail off. Ganon roared in pain as his serpent ally fell to the ground before disintegrating, writhing in pain before doing so. Link then followed up by putting a very large gash into Ganon's shoulder. Black blood dripped from the wound and he clutched it, feeling blood. Ganon looked up at Link, gritted his T-rex teeth, and let out a very loud roar. The time to fight was at hand: the fight for Hyrule.

Ganon charged as fast as a school bus and swung his fist at Link. It caught the hylian hero across the face and Link flipped through the air. Link quickly regained his balance and smashed his shield into Ganon's face. A few teeth flew out of Ganon's mouth and dotted the grass white and red with teeth and blood alike. Ganon ran forward and tackled Link like a football player, sending Link to the ground with Ganon right on top of him. Link tried to get at the beast with his sword, but Ganon had pinned his arm down and was punching every part of Link he could find. Link struggled, but Ganon had a clear weight advantage like a human with a leopard.

"Finally," Ganon thought, "His triforce will be mine!"

"Fox! Don't just stand there! Do something!" Zelda said, very worried indeed.

Fox got the idea before he even thought about it. He took his staff and threw it at Ganon's rhino-like foot as though his staff were a spear. The staff buried its tip into Ganon's heel and the monster roared in pain. Ganon thrashed his foot around until he got it out and turned his attention away from Link: big mistake.

When Ganon looked away, Link freed his sword arm and quickly shoved the giant Master Sword into Ganon's chest cavity. Ganon didn't move for a minute or two, but then roared to the sky with a sword lodged in his chest. Ganon clutched the blade in his hand, but it was the blade of evil's bane and it instantly burned his hand. He continued to roar and sway in pain as the power of good pierced his hide.

Fox smiled as he saw Ganon roar in pain, but then his attention was drawn to Zelda. A golden light shined down on Zelda and she went into a kind of trance.

"Sages of the other dimensions…heed my call! Seal Ganon away once more!" Zelda commanded through telepathy.

Universes away, the sages responded. Krystal raised her hands into the air, Shadow brought up one hand, Meta Knight raised his sword, Teal put her hands together like she was praying, and Wumba took a meditative stance.

At the same time, Pikachu sparked his cheeks, Sensei Kong took a kung-fu stance, Rock flexed his muscles like a bodybuilder, and Samus pointed her arm cannon into the air while Zelda was right in the middle of them all.

Back in the real world, a portal opened up and Ganon began to shake uncontrollably. As they watched, a dark red aura, which had to be Ganon's spirit, exited the body and was sucked into it. When the portal vanished, Allos' dead body slumped to the ground with soulless red eyes and the Master Sword in his chest. Link caught his breath as he removed the Giants' Mask and turned to see Fox and Zelda were there for him. He smiled as he slumped to the ground, very tired, but still alive nonetheless. They won.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31: It's time again.**

It was dawn. Ganon was repelled once again and Allos was dead. When Ganon exited the dinosaur's body, Allos was unable to sustain himself with an arrow or sword in his chest. In the end, Link, Fox, and Zelda threw him into a pit full of Dodongos that devoured him on the spot. Then they went to the Field to watch the sun fill the dark sky.

"Finally. I thought we'd never see the last of Allos." Link sighed as he looked at the sunrise.

Link and Fox were standing side-by-side and staring to the east together. Zelda had taken a little seat next to Link and also looked at the beauty. Finally, Link spoke.

"So, I guess you're leaving now, huh?"

"Yeah." Fox said, "As much as I'd like to stay, I've got a team waiting for me. And I miss Krystal a lot. By the way, I got this message from Charmy when we went to Sonic's world. If you see Malon, tell her our little story. Also tell her that Charmy says, 'hi'."

Link nodded, smiled, and said, "Don't worry, Fox. I will."

"Don't worry, Link. We'll meet again. I promise." Fox said as he started walking away. "I'll just leave you two lovebirds alone for a while."

Link chuckled and Zelda just stared at the Cornerian. Then she turned her attention to Link and stood up to look him in the eye.

"Did he just call us…" Zelda began, but Link held his hands in front of him.

"He knows, Zel. Relax. He's okay with it. Shadow is too." Link assured her.

Zelda sighed in relief as she shook Fox's hand one last time. Link started his goodbye off with a handshake, but then turned into a hug like they were brothers who had just met after ten years. The hug ended and Link turned saw Fox run off to the Arwing II and hop into it. He waved as he shouted his good-byes and Fox flew out of sight. When he was in space, Fox attached the Arwing II to the Dimension Ring, turned it on, and zoomed off for his own dimension at warp speed.

Back on Great Fox, Falco had his legs up on the table and was leaning back in his chair. Peppy was sound asleep and Slippy was doing a few repairs on ROB. Just then, Slippy looked up from his work with ROB's head still in his hand and let out a shout of joy that caused Falco to fall out of his seat and Peppy to wake with a start.

"HEY, GUYS! LOOK! IT'S FOX! IT'S FOX!" Slippy said as he hopped up and down.

Falco looked out the window and, sure enough, Fox was in the Arwing II and coming in through the landing bay. In just a few minutes' time, the sliding doors opened up and Fox was greeted with open arms.

Peppy smiled as he said, "Just like your father. I thought I lost him one time, but he came back like a boomerang."

"YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK!" Slippy said excitedly.

"SLIPPY, PLEASE PUT MY HEAD BACK ON MY TORSO." ROB said as his body kept moving around blindly.

Fox smiled as he was smothered with the attention of his teammates. However, he noticed that one member was still missing and looked around in worry.

"Wait, where's Krystal?" Fox asked.

Just then, a hand held his shoulder and Fox slowly turned around to see Krystal, just the way she was before the mission.

"Right here." She said with a great smile.

Fox's expression instantly lightened up and the two embraced each other as though they had been apart for years, but was really only a few weeks. Then, something hit Fox's mind.

"Wait. Krystal, you said you had something to tell me. Remember back on Sauria?" Fox asked.

"Well…When I was an awakened sage, I felt another presence besides you, me, and Link." Krystal said.

Fox couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could someone else be in there with them? He didn't see anyone.

"What do you mean?" Fox asked.

"Well, for the last two months I have felt something inside me…" Krystal said, looking down.

Fox's expression was at first, one of confusion. But then Fox couldn't believe what he was hearing. Before he even had time to try and tell them what was going on, Krystal finished for him.

"Yes. I may be having your child." Krystal said.

THIS was a truly momentous occasion. Now, Fox was going to be like his dad. Fox even wondered if his father felt like this when he heard he was going to have him.

"Fox? Are you alright?" Krystal asked.

Fox suddenly snapped back to reality when he realized that he was just staring off into space like a zombie. He blinked a few times and then came back down to earth.

"Yeah. Now, let's get to Corneria. We gotta get prepared for the new arrival." Fox said, very happy.

Back at Hyrule, Link and Zelda were at the market when Zelda saw Link purchase something. When they were done, Link took a deep breath and prepared to ask something, but Zelda answered before he even had time to ask.

"Yes, Link. I do want to marry you." She said, knowing what he was going to ask.

Link blinked a few times before asking, "How did you know?"

Zelda stifled a laugh and said, "You were at the jewelry shop and you bought that ring I had always wanted. What else could you ask for?"

Link shrugged as he said, "Oh well, some people can be surprised, some can't."

This was one great time of happiness, but it wouldn't last too long…

Somewhere in a dark realm, a dark figure pounded his chair's arm with a fist.

"GRRRR! Concolor failed and now Allos. I guess the time has come for me to get things done MY way." The thing growled as it stood up and strode off, smashing some crystal ball in the process.

However, it would take time for him to do it. For now, Fox and Link would have to enjoy the peace while it lasted. And they had at least nine months to do so.

The End


End file.
